March 29, 2006	Wednesday	Safar 28, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, March 28: Two foetuses were recovered from the abdomen of a two-month-old girl after an operation at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) here on Tuesday. However, the baby expired after seven hours of the operation, the first of its kind in the medical history of the country.

Prof Zahir Abbasi, a paediatric surgeon at Pims told Dawn that the baby girl, Nazia, had been operated upon after various tests, including ultra-sound and X-ray, on suspicion that she had a tumour or water in her abdomen.

The baby was brought to the hospital two weeks ago by her 30- year-old mother, from a village near Abbottabad, after her condition deteriorated.

According to doctors, the physical condition of the baby was weak and she had been continuously vomiting since her birth. The size of her abdomen was large and she had swelling on her body.

The mother of Nazia took the baby to different hospitals with her brothers because her husband worked in the Middle East.

Finally they brought the baby to the Children Hospital, Pims, suspecting that she had a tumour in her abdomen.

A team of doctors after the two-hour operation removed from the baby’s abdomen a mass weighing one kg with organs like liver, intestine, and kidney.

Two foetuses were extracted from the mass – one of six inches and the other of five inches .

The six-inch foetus had a backbone, pair of hands and legs, head and some other organs, while the five-inch foetus also had these organs, but not a head.

Nazia was shifted to the ICU ward soon after the operation in a Critical condition and she was put on ventilators, the doctor said, adding that her lungs were not working.

Prof Abbasi said that it was a rare case with only one or two cases were recorded in the medical history. Some 30-40 years ago, two foetuses had been recovered from a baby girl and in that case also, the baby didn’t survive the operation.