The Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children gave a new lease on life to a baby born with a rare condition, Aplasia cutis congenita, recently. He was born without a scalp and skull on part of his head. Now, one and a half months old, he is recovering at his home. The boy, whose brain is normal, was born to Tamil Nadu-based Sanaullah and Afrin Khan at a Sakinaka nursing home on December 24, 2022. He was then shifted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Wadia hospital where he was operated on when he was five days old.

Speaking to mid-day, Wadia hospital’s Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon Nilesh Satbhai said, “A part of the boy’s head was open and the skull there had not developed. The brain and its coverings were visible. This is a rare case, one in lakhs. Around 20 per cent to 50 per cent people with this condition die. There are major chances of infection in the head that could have been dangerous for the child. So we decided to perform surgery at the earliest and save him.”