NICVD doctors undecided over treating baby born with heart outside body

KARACHI: Paediatric cardiologists and surgeons at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) refused on Wednesday to admit and treat a newborn baby girl suffering from ectopia cordis - a condition where the heart is located outside the body.

The NICVD administration said that the cardiologists and surgeons would decide as to whether they should operate on the infant or not as they had failed to save another baby’s life with the same condition after a surgery in May this year.

Born at a public hospital in Korangi on Wednesday morning, the baby girl was taken to the National Institute of Child Health for treatment where doctors diagnosed her with ectopia cordis. “The baby was sent to the NICVD for treatment but they did not give a positive response and returned the infant back to us,” Arshad Domki, the deputy director at the NICH told The News.

“She is in the intensive care unit at our hospital where doctors are wondering as to how they’ll save her life,” he added.

In April this year, a child born in Orangi Town and suffering from ectopia cordis was taken to the NICH. A team of paediatric surgeons at the NICVD had performed a surgery on him to put the heart inside the body. But the baby had died on May 2.

NICVD executive director Prof Nadeem Qamar said the baby was sent back to the NICH after paediatric cardiologists refused to have her admitted and treat her.

“The decision to operate on the child will be taken by our paediatric surgeons and cardiologists. The chances of survival in such cases are very rare so the decision will be made after thorough consultation and deliberation, he added.

He said a team of 10 experts led by paediatric surgeon Dr Sohail Bangash had operated on a child with ectopia cordis in May this year after consulting surgeons in Boston, US but the baby died despite all the efforts.

Prof Qamar said the child brought to the NICVD on Wednesday too had “very little” chances of survival as not only was her heart located outside her body, but the chambers of her heart, connecting veins and other components of the circulatory system was also not fully developed and not functioning properly.

Muhammad Zubair and Rukhsana, the parents of the baby girl, said they had pinned high hopes on the doctors at the NICH and the NICVD. They urged the government to form a board of experienced and qualified surgeons from both the public and private sector to treat their child and save her life.

--Originally published in The News