Girl with head bent at 90 degrees still waiting for surgery two years on

A girl who was promised surgery to fix her bent neck is still waiting almost two years on.

Afsheen Kumbar, 11, hit the headlines in 2017 after pictures of her with her head bent at a 90 degree angle went viral.

The little girl hurt her neck when she had a fall at eight-months-old, and her parents couldn’t take her to hospital as they had no money.

In February 2018, Afsheen secured a sponsor and was taken to Agha Khan University Hospital in Karachi for a possible surgery.

However, due to a marriage in the family, the planned surgery was delayed.

Her brother Yaqoob said that after the delay, the sponsor did not answer his calls to reschedule the treatment.

Yakoob said: ‘The doctors at the Agha Khan Hospital performed all the tests.

‘They told us there is 50 per cent chance for the successful surgery and asked us to go home and think over it.

‘However, after a month, the leader who promised to sponsor for the surgery never responded to my repeated calls or connected with us.

‘We did not have money to take Afsheen to hospital on our own.

‘In the last one year, she has been at home. She has not seen a doctor.’

Afsheen has spent almost her entire life in pain because of her bent neck.

It has meant she has not been able to go to school, and has to rely on her widowed mother and Yaqoob for everything.

All they have to live on is £60 a month, which her mum earns from working as a domestic help.

Yaqoob had to leave his job to look after his sister full-time.

He is now pleading with the Pakistani government to come forward and help Afhseen.

Yaqoob said: ‘We took her to a local doctor in our city but he said only specialists can treat her.

‘He advised us to take her to a foreign country.

‘We have no money to take her to a different city, how will we take her to a foreign country?

‘I am pleading the government and locals here to please help my sister. She needs a surgery to live a normal life.’