Indian doctors save Nigerian baby with malformed heart

TRACKING >A two-and-half-month old baby, daughter of a Nigerian Air Force pilot, has been saved by Indian doctors in Hyderabad’s Star Hospital from a potentially fatal heart condition.

Doctors performed the feat in an emergency operation, both The Hindu and Times of India reported.

The condition is known as transposition of great arteries, in which placement of arteries is switched.

Instead of arising from right side of heart, Pulmonary artery starts from left side and carries back pure blood to lungs. And the largest artery Aorta arises from right instead of left side and carries impure blood to body.

“The infant was kept alive by three holes at various levels in the heart which allowed intermixing of pure and impure blood. This mixed blood ensured that the child was alive, though turned blue in colour,” said Dr. B.R. Jagannath, one of the doctors who carried out the corrective heart surgery on Baby Ojomo.

One of the Indian doctors who performed the operation at Hyderabad Star Hospital

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The mother of the baby, Mrs. Ojomo, said a Nigerian cardiologist picked up the abnormal heart condition quickly and contacted the Indian hospital.

Dr. Ramesh Dasari said the baby needed the operation quickly as 90% of children with the condition die within a year.

“I came to India with a lot of hope and tghe doctors have made it possible. I am absolutely speechless and couldn’t thank enough’, the relieved mum told The Times of India.