pinkeye
06-14-2004, 11:09 AM
Iraqi Boy Discharged After Eye Surgery
TOKYO - A 10-year-old Iraqi boy was discharged from a Japanese hospital Monday after doctors operated to restore sight to his battle-injured eye — medical treatment that was promised to him by a journalist who later was killed.
Mohamad Haytham Saleh's Japanese doctors said they believed Friday's operation would help him regain some sight in his left eye in a few months. The eye was pierced by glass shards during a gunbattle in Fallujah town in November. His right eye was not hurt.
Saleh was expected to continue to receive treatment as an outpatient for several weeks before returning to Iraq (news - web sites), Yoshiki Sugiura, an official at Seirei Numazu Hospital, said Friday.
Photojournalist Shinsuke Hashida, 61, met Saleh while reporting in Iraq two months ago and promised to bring him to Japan for treatment. Two operations in Iraq to restore his eyesight had failed.
Hashida made the arrangements, but was killed along with his 33-year-old nephew, Kotaro Ogawa, also a journalist, in a May 27 ambush south of Baghdad.
A Rotary Club in Numazu, about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, sponsored the boy and paid for his medical care to fulfill the promise.
Saleh was to meet Hashida's widow, Yukiko, later Monday
TOKYO - A 10-year-old Iraqi boy was discharged from a Japanese hospital Monday after doctors operated to restore sight to his battle-injured eye — medical treatment that was promised to him by a journalist who later was killed.
Mohamad Haytham Saleh's Japanese doctors said they believed Friday's operation would help him regain some sight in his left eye in a few months. The eye was pierced by glass shards during a gunbattle in Fallujah town in November. His right eye was not hurt.
Saleh was expected to continue to receive treatment as an outpatient for several weeks before returning to Iraq (news - web sites), Yoshiki Sugiura, an official at Seirei Numazu Hospital, said Friday.
Photojournalist Shinsuke Hashida, 61, met Saleh while reporting in Iraq two months ago and promised to bring him to Japan for treatment. Two operations in Iraq to restore his eyesight had failed.
Hashida made the arrangements, but was killed along with his 33-year-old nephew, Kotaro Ogawa, also a journalist, in a May 27 ambush south of Baghdad.
A Rotary Club in Numazu, about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, sponsored the boy and paid for his medical care to fulfill the promise.
Saleh was to meet Hashida's widow, Yukiko, later Monday