Iraq's miracle baby holds on to life in Turkey

An Iraqi baby with a congenital heart disease is recuperating after a successful surgery in Turkey.

Ali Aqeel Jabbar Altaee, who is 30 months old, is a medical miracle, doctors say.

After he was born, he suffered bruising and palpitations.

Doctors in Iraq who diagnosed him said it was a miracle he had lived past the age of 2 with the kind of symptoms he had.

He underwent an eight-hour surgery at Medicana Bahçelievler Hospital in Istanbul. Then, he was taken to the intensive care unit and discharged from the hospital after a month.

Dr. Murat Basaran told Anadolu Agency that the baby was very lucky to have survived so far.

"The baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Normally 90% of such babies lose their lives in the first month. However, Ali had a hole in his stomach and that kept him alive," said Basaran.

He said this was a high-risk surgery which his team completed successfully.

Basaran said they will continue to monitor the patient because he needs special care.

"He is now fine, these kind of surgeries have three steps, we only did the first one, after a year we are planning to do the second one and after 3-4 years will do a third."