This 6-year-old boy from an impoverished family in rural Brazil has spent over a week in hospital after he fell into a vat of boiling milk resulting in almost his whole body being severely burnt.

His mother, who says the family scrape by on donations and by selling yoghurt, says she has no idea how the family will cover her son’s mounting medical bill.

Heliab Barroso Gomes, 6, has been in the emergency unit of the Rio Branco hospital since Thursday (26th August) after falling in a vat of boiling milk in his rural home in the Capixaba municipality in the Brazilian state of Acre.

Gersilene Barroso dos Santos, Heliab’s mother, told local news site g1 that her son is in constant pain and the doctors are having to sedate him with morphine just to ease his discomfort.

The family which is made up of Gersilene her husband, who wasn’t named, and three children live in dire conditions in a makeshift shack that they built at the back of an old church.

They scrape by on donations from the church and from the sale of yoghurt that they make at home in the vat that Heliab fell into.

G1 reports that the family were boiling milk for a batch of yoghurt when the six-year-old slipped and fell into the boiling liquid.

Gersilene said: “He went to the hospital in Senador Guiomard [neighbouring city] and from there to the ER in Rio Branco.”

She added: “Here where we live there are no facilities to treat him.”

Heliab was reportedly burned all over his chest, legs and hands with only his face and feet avoiding severe burns.

Gersilene also said: “A surgical procedure was planned because he was not able to pee. “

She explained that her son’s genitals were very badly burnt and after the doctors inserted a probe to assess the damage he was not able to go to the bathroom for a whole night due to the pain.

Heliab has been accompanied at the hospital by his father, an uncle and grandmother as Gersilene was not able to travel to the city due to her spinal problems making it very painful for her to travel.

Gersilene is now concerned about how the family will cover the medical bills, both she and her husband have spinal issues which make it hard for them to work.

She said: ” We live off donations from the church and selling yoghurt. I don’t know how we will pay for Heliab’s medication.”

Heliab is reportedly still in hospital and doctors have not made a statement regarding when he will be discharged.