Baby lives after heart surgery and quake

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-6-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A TIBETAN minority baby from Sichuan Province's Aba has been discharged from Shanghai Children's Medical Center after successful surgery to treat a serious congenital heart disease.

The girl, who has not been named, was born on May 23, 11 days after the earthquake.

While the parents thought she was lucky to survive the earthquake, they found her fingers and lips had turned purple a day after she was born.

The father took her to a local hospital and then to Huaxi Hospital in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

The baby was diagnosed as having a congenital heart disease and was in need of immediate surgery. Doctors suggested the family transfer the baby to a major hospital outside Sichuan, since Huaxi was unable to carry out the surgery because of the number of quake victims they had to deal with.

The girl arrived at Shanghai Children's Medical Center on June 3, where local doctors confirmed she suffered dislocation of major blood vessels in the heart.

"Surgery took place on June 5. She recovered quickly and left intensive care unit four days later," said Xia Lin, a center official.

"The parents said they will include in the girl's name the character "xin," which means heart in Chinese, to express their gratitude," Xia said.