Binghamton, New York: A group of area residents is battling bureaucratic red tape to bring a Sri Lankan boy to the United States for a surgery that would allow him to speak.
The 11-year-old boy, Pirabu, has a cleft palate, which has left him more susceptible to infection and makes it hard for him to grow because he has trouble eating. The cleft palate has also made it impossible for him to talk.
Some local health-care professionals met Pirabu and learned his story while on a March trip to Sri Lanka to provide medical care following the December tsunami.
Pirabu has been living in an orphanage since the monster waves struck the region and killed his father. His mother, who is poor and illiterate, lives in a refugee camp.
So Endicott resident Vickie Potochniak, Vestal doctor Suren Pathman and other area residents arranged for Pirabu to undergo surgery at Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center in Johnson City. Area medical professionals have agreed to perform the surgery, with United Health Services contributing the facilities.
The surgery and associated services will cost between $5,000 and $10,000, Potochniak said.
But the surgery isn't happening, not yet at least.
Even though Pirabu has a passport, he was denied an exit visa by the U.S. Embassy, Potochniak said.
The application process involved standing in lines in a crowded embassy for hours, Potochniak said. Yet the interview for the visa in late June took less than five minutes, she said.
The visa rejection came swiftly, as embassy officials told the group that people who leave the country for
America often don't come back, Potochniak said.
"I had no idea that there would be any problems at all," Potochniak said. "It's been very, very frustrating."
With the exit visa unavailable, the group is now trying to get what's known as "humanitarian parole" for the boy.
The parole, which is granted by the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, allows people to travel to the United States on a temporary basis.
However, humanitarian parole is normally reserved for people in life-and-death situations, said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Bentley said Friday that he had not heard of the situation involving Pirabu and could not comment about the case
The local group has turned to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for help in getting Pirabu to the United States.
A spokeswoman for Clinton, Nina Blackwell, confirmed that the senator has been working with the group.
Clinton's representatives originally tried to arrange a second meeting between the group and the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka earlier this month, Blackwell said. Now, Clinton's office is helping the group put together the application for humanitarian parole.
It normally takes between 60 and 90 days to process and settle applications for humanitarian parole.
And Potochniak realizes that the parole is a long-shot.
The group that's helping Pirabu even considered having the surgery in a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka. However, a doctor at that hospital said Pirabu must weigh more than his current 38 pounds to safely perform the surgery there.
The best hope for Pirbu is to get the exit visa, so he can have the surgery here, Potochniak said.
"I promised him I wouldn't give up," Potochniak said. "We'll exhaust every option we can."