THANE: A four-month old girl from Kenya, who suffered from a congenital heart disease and was on ventilator support, underwent surgery at a hospital in suburban Mumbai following which she is recovering, doctors said today.
Born at Mombasa in Kenya, the baby, Keliah weighed just about 600 gms, cried incessantly and never put on weight. She also contracted pneumonia and when she did not seem to be responding to any medication, her mother rushed her to a local hospital where a team of cardiologists diagnosed her condition as congenital Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV).
Later, her condition worsened and she was put on ventilator support.
Subsequently, on the advice of local doctors, the baby strapped to her ventilator box along with her Kenyan doctor and nurse were airlifted to India and rushed to Fortis Hospital in Mumbai.
According to the hospital, further tests revealed she had additionally developed blood stream sepsis which had to be treated with more antibiotics. A complex surgery named the 'Atrial Switch', was performed on her last month.
According to the hospital, the surgery was complex as the child was tiny and had already undergone tremendous medical intervention in terms of ventilator support and treatment for pneumonia and blood sepsis.
"The complexities involved were numerous; the tiny baby had endured life support, long air travel, infection and a major surgery all at the tender age of 3.5 months. The fight for life at that point wasn't just for the baby but the team as well, who endeavoured to make sure that the damage was corrected, giving baby Keliah a second chance at life," Vijay Agarwal, Chief of Paediatric Cardiology at Fortis Mulund said.
The child was subsequently weaned off the ventilator and is now able to breathe on her own. She is healing satisfactorily and will soon be well enough to go back home, doctors attending her said.