To Be Treated at UK Hospital After Officials Speed Visa Situation
3 months old Afghan orphan, Baby Mohammad Sudais will be arriving this evening in Glasgow on Emirates Flight EK025 around 19:06 hrs Thursday 20 February 2014. His cousins will be present to greet the baby and his uncle along with representatives from Positive Action in Housing
The baby will be accompanied by his uncle Mohammad Asif who flew out to Dubai last night to meet the baby’s flight from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Tom Harrigan MBE, trustee, and Robina Qureshi, Director, both from the refugee and migrant charity Positive Action in Housing will be meeting the family off the plane.
Tom Harrigan MBE, a retired Chief Inspector with Strathclyde Police, and supporter of a children’s orphanage in India, has agreed to be a trustee of the Baby Mohammad Appeal. He will be one of a small group of people tasked with ensuring the appeal funds are spent in an open and transparent manner for Baby Mohammad’s present and future medical needs.
Tom Harrigan said“We are very glad Baby Mohammad is now in Scotland. I personally would like to thank everyone who donated so generously to this Appeal. I’d also like to show my appreciation to the Scottish Government for its spontaneous support. The money raised will be utilised to help with Baby Mohammad’s present and future special need, and we will keep everyone updated as to his progress.”
Robina Qureshi said: “When we began this Appeal 12 days ago we never imagined the generosity that would come forward from people across the UK. I’m glad we were able help in some small way. We want to thank the Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil MSP for acting with speed and compassion. We also want to thank Punjab Governor Mohammad Sarwar, Margaret Curran MP, the British High Commission in Islamabad, the Scottish Government’s international adviser Robert Dunn and the Yorkhill Hospital for helping to bring this child to Scotland for emergency medical treatment.
This treatment was unavailable in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Most of all, we want to thank the many people and organisations who raised donations and wrote letters of support for the family. Baby Mohammad’s arrival in Scotland is a measure of this country’s renowned humanitarian spirit. For now, he is Scotland’s Baby”.
Baby Mohammad now faces years of painful surgery to reconstruct his face. Scotland’s Canniesburn unit is world renowned. His life was at risk of infection, thankfully he is now in safe hands in Scotland.
Baby Mohammad was orphaned when he tragically lost his mother, father and 13 month old baby brother, in a Peshawar Gas explosion at their home in December 2013.
Baby Mohammad’s cousins were there to greet the baby and his uncle along with representatives from Positive Action in Housing, Tom Harrigan and Robina Qureshi. The refugee and migrant homelessness charity led a relentless 13 day campaign to raise funds and secure urgent medical treatment for Baby Mohammad in Glasgow.
The first stage of this campaign was to enable Baby Mohammad to travel to Glasgow for medical treatment. We achieved much more than that. £12,875 has been raised so far of an initial £20K target. The next stage in his recovery will be medical treatment to rebuild his face.
