Chitrali baby's life saved at Pims

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: The life of a newborn baby born to a couple in a Chitral village with a major congenital deformity in the passageway from mouth to stomach was saved after an operation at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Islamabad.
According to Bulbul Hussain, a resident of Bakarabad in Chitral, when the condition of his son deteriorated soon after birth, local doctors told him to take the baby to a major hospital immediately. The parents took the baby to SherpaoHospital in Peshawar where he was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula with esophageal atresia (a condition in which the passageway from the mouth to stomach is not formed and has communication through the airway).
However, considering the seriousness of the case, the doctors at the Peshawar hospital referred the baby to Pims in a critical condition.
The baby was admitted to the paediatrics surgery ward at the Pims for two days after which he was operated upon by a team of pediatric surgeons, including Associate Professor Dr M. Amjad Chaudhry and Dr Saifullah Khan.
Dr Saifullah, who is also a resident of Birzoz village in the Yarkhun valley of Chitral, told this correspondent on Tuesday that after the operation the baby was doing well and had been discharged from the hospital. He said this could be the first case of its nature in the medical history of Chitral.