Coalition Doctors Remove Tumor, Save Afghan Girl’s Life

[NYVet]

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=21427

By Sgt. Daniel Love
Combined Joint Task Force -101

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — On a warm morning in early June, a worried Abdullah Haqim walked with his daughter into the weekly coalition medical clinic in Farah province, Afghanistan. Six-year-old Gulzana was sick and local Afghan doctors could not diagnose or treat the painful swelling that had engulfed her left eye.

The father watched with a worried expression as a U.S. Special Operations Forces doctor examined the tumor that covered her eye. He was worried because insurgents in the area had warned him that coalition doctors would not help his daughter and may even hurt her.

<snip>

Gulzana had an orbital tumor growing from her eye which was expanding to her cheek and eye brow. In a developing country such as Afghanistan, a child with such an affliction has an extremely low chance of survival. Soon after the American doctor looked at her, he began coordinating life-saving plans.

“We saw this as a case where we could make a difference in a child’s life, so we had to act,” said the SOF doctor. “It took some effort, but we arranged for Gulzana and her father to arrive here around the same time as Col. David Holck, one of the Air Force’s two best optical surgeons.”

<snip>

“Her mother is gone and she has had enough pain in her life,” said Haqim. “I’m happy that the Americans showed so much care for her and that she is getting better. Before, we were so worried but now everything has changed and she will have a chance to grow up and be happy.”

[rzemanfl]

1. Where are the "coalition doctors" in this story? n/t