In the September 2013 issue of 'The Far East' magazine we introduced you to Rattno, a young Pakistani teenager who had suffered severe burns. Here is his story.
Two years ago 14-year-old Rattno Shivjee was burnt and lucky to have survived when the shack his family called home was burnt down. This occurred in November 2012. Rattno is a Hindu boy of the Parkari Koli tribal people in south-east Pakistan. He had severe burns to the left side of his face and body. His left leg was twisted and shortened due to joint dislocation of his knee and foot. After extensive hospital care, skin grafting and orthopedic surgery, Rattno can now walk again, thanks to the generosity of Columban benefactors.
Since April 2013, St Elizabeth Hospital in Hyderabad has seen to Rattno’s care. He was first admitted to St Elizabeth to recover from malnutrition so that skin grafting could be done. He also had to become familiar with hospital situations, frightening for a boy from a family and community where no-one was literate, where there was no electricity, and for which the outside world was an ever-present threat. His mother and father took turns to remain with him. The hospital nurses surrounded him with happiness and great care.
After several weeks, St Elizabeth arranged for him to be admitted to Patel Hospital in Karachi which has an outstanding burns department. Rattno’s father, Shivjee, stayed with him. For the next three months, Patras Inayat, the senior male nurse at St Elizabeth travelled back and forward from Hyderabad to Karachi to be with Rattno, to check on his progress and to pay the bills.
Rattno stayed in hospital in Karachi for three months. Mr James Francis, administrator of St Elizabeth, then arranged for him to come back to St Elizabeth until he was ready for the surgery in Karachi to reconstruct and realign his leg.
Three procedures were carried out successfully at the hospital in Karachi in January this year. After two years Rattno took his first steps on January 30, 2014, with the help of a walker and two nurses, Dilshad Jehangir and Joel Masih, who had come from St Elizabeth Hospital. The whole ward erupted into applause and cheers. His surgeon, Dr Mohsin was delighted.
Rattno started to move confidently around the hospital and in the hospital garden with the help of his walker and with a nurse always with him, responding happily to greetings.
Rattno came back to St Elizabeth Hospital to begin physiotherapy at the end of February 2014. St Elizabeth Hospital's administrator arranged for Rattno to join (along with five other illiterate young men from his village) an accelerated course of education at the Catholic Youth Development Centre in Hyderabad. A new beginning for all students and a special new beginning for Rattno.
After the fire, Rattno’s parents moved into a permanent home at Jhirruk, 40km south of Hyderabad. Here, St Elizabeth Hospital has been building houses for people who lost everything in the Pakistan floods of 2010 and 2011. It also allowed them to be closer to Rattno during his stay in St Elizabeth's, Hyderabad.
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch was a missionary in Pakistan for 34 years. He is currently the Procurator General of St Columbans Mission Society in Rome.
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