VIJAYAWADA: Sustained medical efforts, for over five months, by a team of doctors at the Rainbow Children’s Hospital in the city helped in saving a premature baby boy born in September 2017. Doctors said that the ‘miracle baby’, who was born with 450 grams of weight, was healthy now and weighed 2.2 kgs.
In a press conference held on Wednesday, the director of the hospital, Dr Dinesh Kumar Chirla, said that babies born weighing less than 1.5 kg had the slightest chance of survival. “The baby was born in September, 2017, with underdeveloped organs and his feet were of thumbnail size. Only 1.5 percent of babies are born this tiny and survival is extremely slim. However, sustained efforts of our neonatology wing helped the baby survive. That is why he is miracle baby and this could be the first such case in our state,” he said.
Explaining the case, he said, “The mother of the baby boy had a preterm labour at 24 weeks of pregnancy, as she developed complications. She had a history of abortion. After consulting the doctors, she was admitted to our hospital on September 25 last year. She was given medical treatment to improve the maturity of the lungs, intestines and brain of the baby. Two days later, the baby was born.”
He recalled that the baby was in a critical condition. “He was put on a ventilator and our neonatal experts took care of him. Later, the baby was operated on for inguinal hernia on February 10. Now he is healthy and ready for discharge,” Dr Dinesh Kumar said.Clinical director of the hospital Dr Ram Prasad, general manager Rajmohan Ramaswamy and others were also present during the press conference.