Turkmenistanian girl gets surgery

Gulshat and Bahar Kadyrova are staying with friends in Oxford

A young girl from Turkmenistan is due to go into hospital to have surgery that will help her walk properly.

Six-year-old Gulshat Kadyrova was born without hip sockets and has a curved spine, but was unable to get the correct treatment in her own country.

Her mother sold all her possessions to bring her daughter to the UK so she could undergo a specialist operation.

Gulshat will spend the night at Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital to prepare for the surgery on Tuesday.

The £15,000 procedure is being paid for through the efforts of local fundraisers, who arranged for her to be treated in the UK.

But they still need to raise more money to give the youngster the treatment that she needs to live a normal life.

Bahar Kadyrova still has to raise thousands for a second operation

Doctors say Gulshat will also require a second operation on her back which will cost between £20,000 and £25,000.

Her mother, Bahar, was forced to sell everything and come to Oxford in attempt get help for her daughter.

Ms Kadyrova said: "When we knew we would have to leave the country go and find help somewhere else it was completely outside my financial ability to do that.

"I sold all the valuable things in our house, the television, the refrigerator and my jewellery that my mother had passed on to me as heirlooms."

Ms Kadyrova earns the equivalent of £40 a month working as an accountant in Turkmenistan.