The Ethiopian nanny tortured by the Gaddafi family will be operated for her remaining burns in the coming weeks, according to a plastic surgeon at Mater Dei Hospital who insisted she will not receive any preferential treatment.
Prof. Francis Darmanin, who has been entrusted with the case of Shweyga Mullah, cut through the media hype and stressed the 30-year-old will be treated like any other burns patient.
“There are other emergencies waiting to be addressed, including cancer patients. We are hoping to operate her in the coming weeks depending on the theatre available,” he told The Sunday Times.
Prof. Darmanin is clearly uncomfortable with the international publicity surrounding this case as for him all patients have to be treated equally and depending on the severity of their burns.
“The biggest challenge in this case is the media. It is a case like any other,” he said.
Ms Mullah grabbed the world’s attention after she was discovered by CNN journalists in the plush home of Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal, with her head and body covered in a patchwork of weeping wounds.
Her only crime was refusing to beat Gaddafi’s grandchild who was crying. Hannibal’s wife, Aline, lost her temper, dragged Ms Mullah to the bathroom, tied her arms and legs and poured boiling water over her head. She was abandoned in the seaside resort when rebel forces hit Tripoli and Hannibal and his wife fled to Algeria.
Ms Mullah was brought to Malta for further treatment after the intervention of the government and following consultation with her doctors. She arrived on Thursday and was immediately admitted to Mater Dei.
Prof. Darmanin, who has examined Ms Mullah, is quick to highlight the “excellent” treatment the Libyan doctors gave Ms Mullah, who risked losing her life were it not for the care she received in the Tripoli burns hospital.
He personally knew the two surgeons who treated Ms Mullah as they formed part of the Mediterranean Burns Council, which includes representatives from the south of Europe right through the north of Africa, and the Middle East.
Prof. Darmanin had been informed that the young woman was initially suffering from 60 per cent burns, from which only six per cent were left – mostly open wounds on parts of her scalp, chest and breast where her skin has disintegrated.
“She’s still young. She’s very small and fragile... But if she really had 60 per cent burns she has recovered very well,” he said, adding that she looked happy to be in Malta.
The first procedure will focus on skin grafting – taking skin from another part of her body and applying it to the open wound. Then, once these have healed she will require reconstructive surgery to the contractures – the areas where the skin has tightened, limiting her movement – but this was not the emergency part.
Prof. Darmanin, who expressed the hope Ms Mullah’s psychological trauma was also addressed, is confident she will make a full recovery but will remain scarred for life.
Explaining there was also very little to do to address the discoloration of her face caused by the boiling water, he said:
“Scars can never be eliminated, but they can be improved. We are focusing more on function first and then aesthetics.”