Boy born with extra limbs recovering

By Violet Nabatanzi

THE male baby recently born with extra limbs and underwent a successful surgery at Mulago Hospital is healthy according to doctors.

The little boy named Mukisa was born with five limbs mid last year by a 27 year old mother Margaret Owino and Boniface Okongo at their home in Nabigingo village, Bugiri district.

Owino and her husband Okongo, a farmer, rushed the baby to Bugiri Hospital from where they were referred to Mulago where the new born was admitted.

Dr. Nasser Kakembo, who was among the team of surgeons who saved the boy, told New Vision that Mukisa is in good health and he has started crawling.

“The parents of the baby boy have brought him for medical review and he is in good health,” Kakembo added.

Kakembo said in future, the boy will undergo cosmetic surgery to enable him walk properly.

Okongo said the medical experts have asked them to report to hospital for another medical review, early next month.

He said his child is in good state and he is feeding well only that the wound is still healing.

A team of medical experts composed of senior doctors and radiologists led by a consultant paediatric surgeon Dr. John Sekabira of Mulago was set up to examine the baby before surgery. The operation lasted four hours and 30 minutes.

Kakembo said the surgeons carried out a number of investigations on the internal organs, alimentary canal, liver, heart and bones of the baby before operation was carried out.

According to experts the little boy’s heart was on the right side of the body as opposed to being on the left. In addition, the boy’s liver was also located on the left side instead of the right. He said this condition is commonly known as situs inversus.

The surgery of this kind can cost about sh30m if it is done abroad.

The extra limb is most commonly shrunken or deformed. The causes are several. Sometimes an embryo starts as conjoined twins, but one twin degenerates completely, except for one or more limbs which end up being attached to the other twin.

Sometimes, small extra legs between the normal legs are caused by the body axis forking. A similar case that made world headlines was at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India in 2007.

Two-year-old Lakshmi Tatma born with four arms, four legs and extra internal organs was successfully operated upon.