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Beed newborn with critical heart condition saved at Mumbai hospital
Infant with dangerously low oxygen levels survives after 12-hour ambulance transfer and life-saving cardiac procedure
Tests showed that his oxygen saturation had dropped to around 65 per cent, far below the normal level of above 95 per cent for healthy newborns. (Source: Pexels)
A five-day-old baby from Maharashtra’s Beed district, born with a life-threatening heart defect, was saved after a specialised heart procedure at a Mumbai hospital following a 12-hour ambulance journey.
The baby boy was born on November 20, 2025, at a government hospital in Beed through an emergency caesarean section. Soon after birth, doctors noticed a bluish discoloration of his skin — a sign that his blood oxygen levels were dangerously low.
Tests showed that his oxygen saturation had dropped to around 65 per cent, far below the normal level of above 95 per cent for healthy newborns. Doctors suspected a serious heart defect that was preventing enough blood from reaching the lungs to pick up oxygen.
A local paediatrician contacted specialists at Narayana Health SRCC Children’s Hospital in Mumbai, who advised that the baby be urgently shifted for advanced treatment. The newborn was first given medication to keep open a temporary blood vessel that helps carry blood to the lungs in such cases.
He was then transported to Mumbai in an ambulance equipped with breathing support, reaching the hospital after a 12-hour journey in critical condition.
Doctors found that the baby had a rare heart defect in which the normal pathway that carries blood from the heart to the lungs had not developed properly. As a result, the child depended on a small temporary blood vessel present at birth to supply blood to the lungs.
However, this vessel usually closes within a few days after birth, which can quickly cause oxygen levels to drop.
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By the time the baby reached Mumbai, doctors also detected a serious infection, which meant the team first had to stabilise him with medicines and antibiotics before carrying out the heart procedure.
Once his condition improved, doctors performed a procedure on December 1 to place a tiny metal tube, called a stent, in the temporary blood vessel to keep it open and allow blood to flow to the lungs.
The baby was placed on a ventilator during the procedure, which lasted about an hour.
“The baby’s oxygen levels improved immediately from around 65 per cent to nearly 90 per cent after the procedure,” said Dr Supratim Sen, Clinical Lead and Senior Consultant in Paediatric Cardiology at the hospital.
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The infant was taken off ventilator support three days later and discharged a week after the procedure. At discharge, his oxygen levels remained stable.
Doctors said the procedure helped stabilise the baby but he will require further heart surgery as he grows. A corrective open-heart surgery is planned when the child is six to eight months old.
The hospital’s paediatric cardiology team has performed about 53 such procedures in infants with complex heart defects. Doctors said the treatment, which usually costs around ₹3 lakh, was supported in this case through government healthcare schemes and charitable assistance.
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