A Russian toddler has been discharged from hospital in Japan after treatment for severe burns. The boy will now go to his home town on Sakhalin where he will have more treatment at a local clinic.
Two-year-old Nikita Ryzhov spilt a bowl of boiling water over himself in October. A fifth of his body was severely burnt. Russian doctors considered the injuries too complicated for them to treat. Prompt and co-ordinated action by the Russian and Japanese authorities got him to the clinic in Sapporo the next day. “For a child, 20% burns are very severe. We thought we’d need a lot of operations, but one skin transplant procedure was sufficient,” said plastic surgeon Saito Tamotsu. The Japanese provided the treatment free of charge as a gesture of good will.