Mumbai, April 29 : A month-old infant girl, who faced a double life-threatening challenge of Covid-19 and a congenital heart defect, has been cured at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) here this week, an official said on Thursday.
After spending a month in the hospital, the infant, now two months old, returned home after successfully beating both Covid-19 and cardiac issues.
The unchristened daughter of Krishna Agarwal from Nandurbar was diagnosed with a critical heart defect and needed urgent surgery.
Soon after admission to KDAH on March 25, she was also found to be Covid-19 positive and the heart surgery was postponed by a fortnight as the outcome could have been poor.
After recovering from Covid-19 in a fortnight, she was wheeled back for the complex open heart surgery which she tolerated well and also recovered quickly post-operation.
She returned home to Nandurbar after spending a month in the hospital, said KDAH’s pediatric and congenital heart surgeon, Suresh Rao, Director, Children’s Heart Centre.
“She weighed barely 3 kg on admission with a low oxygen saturation level of 86 per cent. She was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition called Obstructed Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection,” Rao explained.
Normally, the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs comes to the left atrium (left upper heart chamber) from where it is pumped to the entire body. But in her case, these vessels coming from the lungs were joined to the right side of the heart instead of the left, leaving the body without adequate oxygen, and congested lungs with high pressures, Rao added.
Tanuja Karande, a doctor at the hospital, said her condition was critical due to extremely high pressure on the right-side of the heart which had weakened its pumping function.
Even as the team prepared for the complicated surgery, the infant girl tested Covid-positive, and it was decided to put off the surgery by a fortnight following the advice of Tanu Singhal and other team members.
Though even the baby’s mother tested Covid positive and was isolated from her child, the team regularly monitored the infant whose vitals remained stable.
The unnamed girl’s father, Krishna Agarwal, said they were extremely worried over their baby’s condition a few days after her birth and had rushed her to a hospital in Surat.
Later, they were directed to the KDAH where the child underwent a complex heart operation after recovering from Covid-19, conquering both major health issues to return home on April 25.(IANS)
