A newborn baby boy is fighting for his life in Pakistan, after being born with a rare condition that has left him with extra limbs.
The baby, who is thought to be one of parasitic twins, appears to have the extra limbs of his conjoined twin, who failed to develop properly.
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Doctors are assessing the little boy, who has been moved to Karachi for treatment. They are considering asking for foreign help in the complicated operation to remove the extra limbs. The baby’s dad Imran Shaikh has made a plea for help to fund his son’s treatment. The baby’s mum, who is also her husband’s cousin, is recovering from the caesarean birth in the family’s home town Sukkur, around 280 miles from Karachi.
“Operating on such a baby is not an easy task as proper assessments need to be done first,” explained Dr Jamal Razza, from the National Institude of Child Health in Karachi. “We need to figure out whether the baby has his twin’s limbs or his own. We also need to consider how much the internal organs have developed as the latter could complicate matters and decrease the baby’s chances of surviving.”
The rare condition is thought to affect fewer than one in a million babies.
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