Rare disease grips Malaysian-Indian baby

Efforts are on to set up a trust fund for treatment of the 14-month-old baby who can smile and walk but cannot speak.

Efforts are on to set up a trust fund for the treatment of a 14-month-old Malaysian Indian baby who is suffering from a rare disease.

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L. Sreeram, who was born at the University Malaya Medical Centre, is suffering from the rare Pierre Robin Syndrome, according to reports here. The disease is a condition that is present at birth marked by a very small lower jaw (micrognathia). The tongue tends to fall back and downward and there is cleft soft palate.

Sreeram can smile and walk, but he cannot speak. He has also been diagnosed with a hole in the heart and needs to undergo a series of operations.

The first operation is scheduled for Aug 7.

"At the moment, he can only say Amma or sign when he becomes agitated or is hungry," a report in the Malaysia Star newspaper quoted Devaki Balakrishnan, Sreeram's mother, as saying in a press conference.

"The doctors said that there is a need for a series of operations to create a palate as well as a jaw for my son. They are waiting for him to gain weight first," she said in the press conference, which was organised by the youth, social and welfare bureau of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).

"My husband is a contract worker and we are poor," she said.She then approached MIC bureau chief for financial assistance.

According to the Star report, MIC youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran would make an initial donation of 2,000 Malaysian ringgits to set up a trust fund for Sreeram's treatment.