Abandoned by father, infant with rare birth defect discharged from Ludhiana hospital

The infant was born with a rare birth defect due to which her intestines were hanging out of the abdominal cavity; on hearing that an expensive surgery would need to be performed the father of the child abandoned the girl

It takes a village to raise a child: this time-tested adage was proven right when large-hearted anonymous benefactors and talented doctors pitched in to provide an infant, who was born with a rare defect, a new lease of life.

The doctors decided to start an online campaign, requesting residents to donate for the surgery, which even when performed free-of-charge would cost ₹3 lakh. (HT Photo)

For 22-year-old Aarti, , a resident of Laxmi Nagar, the world collapsed around her ears, the day her daughter was born as the infant’s intestines were hanging outside the body. Doctors at the private hospital where she was born told the child’s father that the defect would require an expensive rectifying procedure, which could only take place at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh.

This was enough for Aarti’s husband, who sells rags, to wash his hands of the matter and abandon his newborn. However, Aarti and her mother-in-law did not resign to their fate and took her to Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), the next day.

“The patient was a day old when she was rushed to the neonate ward of our hospital on June 24 with a diagnosis of gastroschisis, which is a rare congenital abdominal wall defect with a high mortality, in which the intestines hang outside the abdominal cavity at birth,” Dr Vishal Micheal of the department of paediatric surgery at CMC said, adding that Aarti had no money to even prepare a file, let alone pay for surgery when she came to the hospital.

Donations poured in and after spending 55 days at the hospital, the infant was discharged on Friday.

Dr William Bhatti, director of the hospital, who led the team who led the surgical team, said, “The department of paediatric surgery at CMC, Ludhiana, has been performing all kinds of surgeries in children less than 18 years of age since 1972. The department has been equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for performing minimally invasive neonatal surgeries. This is the only department in Punjab, which is successfully running a maternal and child health programme in paediatric surgery.”

The doctors said one in 10,000 children suffer from such abnormalities.