Funds to pay for treating a severely burned Russian boy in Japan are running short and the boy's Japanese caretaker is calling on the public for more support.
According to the Sapporo Japan-Russia Society, the group looking after Evgeniy Popenko, 12, in Japan, about 23 million yen is needed to treat the boy. The society is still short some 10 million yen, as medical expenses have more than doubled, officials of the society said.
Popenko was burned when a gas cylinder exploded on the veranda of his home in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in January. He suffered burns to 73 percent of his body and was in critical condition for some time after the accident.
The officials said Popenko's burns were more severe than initially thought and that the hospital affiliated with Sapporo Medical University concluded that he needs six operations and six months of hospital treatment.
He has been undergoing treatment in Sapporo since July.
The local government and firms in Russia's Sakhalin region, where the boy is from, are expected to donate about 7.5 million yen. The Japanese side, including the village of Sarufutsu in Hokkaido, a sister village of the boy's village in Russia, will donate about 6 million yen.
Popenko is able to open and shut his eyes, but is unable to separate his fingers due to the burns, according to the officials.
He spends his time in the hospital drawing pictures, they said.