Kaliyakkavilai, the interstate border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, witnessed a heartwarming moment on Thursday when a two-week-old baby was reunited with her mother.
The baby, Fazrin Fathima, was separated from her mother hours after being born, to undergo a surgery in a Kerala hospital. She met her parents, who are natives of Tamil Nadu’s Nagercoil, on her 15th day, for the first time.
Born on April 14 at Dr Jayaharan Memorial Hospital in Nagercoil, Fazrin had transposition of the great arteries, which is a congenital heart disorder. She had to be transported at once for the surgery to Kochi’s Lisie Hospital in Ernakulam district.
After successfully completing the surgery on April 15 and on finding that the baby does not have further complications, the infant was brought to Kaliyakkavilai border in an ambulance.
According to officials in Lisie Hospital, the woman had to undergo an emergency cesarean before her due date and hence, could not accompany the baby.
“The child became sick immediately after the birth and required ventilatory support. The baby was transported to Kerala within a few hours after the delivery. So the mother, Sofia, was unable to travel along with her,” Ebin Abraham, a clinical associate of Lisie Hospital, who accompanied the baby to the border on Wednesday, told TNM.
Lisie hospital had sent an ambulance to Nagercoil to bring the child to Kerala on April 14. "On the day the child was born, the doctor from the hospital in Nagercoil contacted Dr Edwin Francis, head of pediatric cardiology of Lisie Hospital. Since it was lockdown, the hospital officials contacted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and he quickly intervened in the matter to get permission," a statement from Lisse Hospital read.
According to Ebin, the baby was comfortable throughout the four-hour-long journey from Ernakulam district to Tamil Nadu-Kerala border in Kaliyakkavilai.
“She was crying for a while but we fed her immediately. When the nurse handed over the baby to her mother, at first, she (the baby) was a bit uncomfortable, but a few seconds later, she started smiling at the mother,” Ebin recounts the joyful moment.
He also added that the mother was explained the follow-up medications that had to be continued for the baby.
Speaking to the media after receiving her second child in her hand, Sofia said, “I am very happy,” the baby’s mother told the media.
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