Two boys from Sao Tome and Principe are recovering well from serious burns after nearly a month of treatment in Taiwan, officials said yesterday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) and Sao Tome and Principe Ambassador Jorge Amado were expected to visit the boys later in the day.
The boys, both seven years old, had life-threatening tissue adhesions when their conditions came to the attention of a Taiwanese medical team in the African ally country in the middle of March, according to Samuel Chen (陳士良), director-general of the ministry’s Department of African Affairs.
PHOTO: CNA
With the ministry's assistance, the two boys were brought to Taiwan on April 11 for treatment at Taipei's Wan Fang Hospital, Chen said.
Chen Chieh-feng (陳傑峰), head of the hospital's plastic surgery center, said that one of the boys had suffered third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body in an oil tank explosion.
He could barely stretch his arms as a result of muscle contraction, but his range of motion increased from just 20 degrees to 160 degrees after several skin grafts, Chen Chieh-feng said.
The other boy had sustained burns to the backs of his knees after spilling and igniting an oil container, leaving him unable to bend his knees, the doctor said. The patient can now stretch his knees straight and can also jump on one foot, he added.
He said that Sao Tome and Principe has a serious shortage of medical resources, with 120,000 people served by only 40 doctors on average, only one of whom is a surgeon.
The boys’ mothers, who accompanied them to Taiwan, are extremely grateful to Taiwan for the humanitarian assistance provided to their sons, he added.
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