Girl born with three legs in Jamshoro

HYDERABAD: In a rare case of congenital birth defect called polymelia, a baby girl was born with three legs on Tuesday at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) hospital in Jamshoro.

Although the doctors said the newborn is in a stable condition, a surgery to remove the third leg which protrudes from her hip bone will be planned after further medical examination.



"Initially, we feared that her bladder and bowel system may not work but it turned out to be working after she urinated," said surgeon Dr Faheem Memon, to whom LUMHS referred the case.

According to Memon, the baby has a leg with a fully formed foot. An magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan will be performed in the next couple of days to determine whether the amputation will affect her spine or nerves, he added.



"We are planning to perform the surgery at LUMHS and this is going to be the first such case," claimed Memon. He explained, however, that if the extra limb is found to be connected with the spine then LUMHS will refer the baby to other hospitals in Karachi.

LUMHS vice-chancellor Dr Noshad Shaikh, who also examined the newborn, announced that the varsity will pay for her complete medical expenses in any private hospital. The newborn's father, Iqbal Jatoi, hails from Abdullah Chanro village in Dadu, Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2016.