Disease causes tragic toddler’s head to swell up

 

A HEARTBROKEN dad cradles his 18-month-old daughter, who suffers from a rare disorder which has caused her head to swell up three times its normal size.

Roona Begum, from Agartala, in north eastern India has hydrocephalus - a build up cerebrospinal fluid inside her skull. 

Sufferers experience loss of coordination and speech and in long-term cases it can result in mental disability and death.

A treatment is available, in which doctors drain the fluid, but it isn't available on India's version of the NHS. 

Roona's dad, 26-year-old Abdul Rahman, earns less than £2 a day working in a brick factory and can't afford to pay for her to be treated privately. 

India's rural development minister bitterly criticised the country's public health system in a speech last November - claiming the government was failing to provide enough help for the poor.

uksun