Baby born with heart outside chest stuns doctors
...Defies odds of a million to one to survive
Priyanka Pal, 24, was rushed to the labour room of governmentrun Sultanpur hospital in impoverished Uttar Pradesh state last Wednesday night, where she gave birth to a baby boy.
But, to everyone’s shock, the baby was born with his heart protruding from his chest.
The incredibly rare condition, known as ECTOPIA CORDIS, affects only eight in every million births and 90 per cent of these are stillborn or die within three days.
“We were hoping that we would have a happy journey from here on but God had planned something else,” said the baby’s worried father Nirbhay Pal.
“We have been blessed with a son, but his life is in the balance.”
Nirbhay, 30, who makes £3 (about N850) a day working as a mason at local construction sites, was told by the doctors his baby will not live long with the condition, and needs immediate surgery at a better medical facility.
He added: “The doctors said we should go to a private hospital and get surgery done.
“But I am a poor man. We can barely afford two square meals a day. I don’t know what to do. We are hoping that the government will help us.
“I have put everything at stake to save my child. We are feeling so helpless. We don’t know where to go.”
The baby has now been shifted from the Sultanpur hospital to a hospital in the neighbouring city of Dehradun.
It is not yet known how much the operation will cost.
Nirbhay and Priyanka got married four years ago and this is their first child.