Kochi: Doctors at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) here on Tuesday placed the 15-day-old baby boy with a congenital heart disease, under 24-48 hour observation prior to a surgery. He was rushed from a Mangalore hospital by road.
Dr R. Krishna Kumar, Head of Paediatric Cardiology Department, AIMS, told reporters late on Tuesday that the condition of the baby was critical and doctors were placing the baby under observation in ICU for 24-48 hrs in order to stabilise the condition.
“The other organs like kidney, liver and brain have to be in stable condition and we have to see that the baby has no other major infections before doing surgery,” he said.
The baby has multiple heart problems including a hole in the heart, narrowing of the aorta and abnormal aortic valve, doctors said. The baby was brought to Amrita Hospital at around 4.30 pm from a hospital in Mangalore where the child was being treated for the past 10 days. It took five and a half hours to cover 400 km to rush the child in ambulance from Mangalore to AIMS.
Uduma Mukkunnoth native driver Hassan Deli was the star of the saga bringing the child in five-and-a-half hours to Kochi from Mangalapuram by driving the ambulance. This is the second time he is undertaking such a commendable act. He had taken a Kasargod native patient in eight hours and 45 minutes to RCC, Trivandrum from Mangalore on December 10, 2017.
The case is being handled by the paediatric heart team at AIMS comprising cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, nurses, intensivists and anesthesiologists. The baby was referred to Amrita Hospital under the Hrydayam scheme of the Kerala Government after Health Minister K.K. Shylaja intervened in the case.
The initial plan was to rush the child of Saniya-Mitah couple of Kasargod to the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram in 15 hours but the minister intervened to divert it to Amrita to save time. The Kerala Child Protection Team had come forward with the mission to save the child.
