Dead baby was alive

The baby in an incubator at Sion Hospital.

Miracle baby declared dead and kept in mortuary for four hours, gasps for breath just as her dad lowers her into grave

“I opened the gauze, covering my dead daughter’s face to see her one last time before I buried her and as I looked at her, I heard a distinct gasp. I peered at her and realised my darling was alive.”
Bhagwan Gaikwad, the baby’s father

The miracle baby, Sion Hospital doctors declared “dead due to a cardiac arrest”, had in fact, survived four hours in a mortuary in 0°C, next to dead bodies. She was also three months premature and extremely fragile at just 1.4 kg. For her parents, hence, it’s nothing short of a rebirth.

This was Aruna Gaikwad’s first baby after nine years of marriage.

For the Karjat couple, Bhagwan (30) and Aruna (26), the baby had always been that much more special, because it was their first after nine years of marriage. On June 16, Aruna was in her sixth month and went for a check-up to Sion Hospital.

Why she survived

>>Usually cotton wool is stuffed in the mouth, nostrils and ears of a dead body so that body fluid doesn’t ooze out. Here, the hospital staff wrapped the baby in white linen gauze, which allowed her to breathe.

>>The baby would have been subjected to an autopsy, but luckily, the death certificate stated that the baby had a cardiac arrest and was not operated on.

Sion gynaecologist suspended pending enquiry

The doctors asked Bhagwan to organise medicines as an emergency Cesarean had to be performed. “At 7 pm, the staff said my wife had delivered a girl and it was normal delivery. Aruna was still unconscious and the staff showed me my daughter for a bit, before taking her away,” recalls Bhagwan.

“A few minutes later, the staff told me my daughter was dead. I was shocked and speechless,” he added.

The infant was wrapped in a white linen gauze and kept in the ward until midnight. Later, the ‘corpse’ was moved to the hospital mortuary, near unclaimed bodies, where temperatures range between zero and two degrees.


At 2 am, seven hours later, Bhagwan collected his daughter only to realise she was alive at the cremation ground. The baby was then taken back to the hospital around 3.30 am and put in an incubator, where she is recovering. She weighs around 1.4 kg.

On Wednesday Additional Chief Commissioner (health) Kishore Gajbia suspended gynecologist Dr Ashma, who had declared the infant dead.

Shubadha Gudakar, chairman health committee, said, “It’s a serious matter and prima facie, it shows the gynecologist was negligent.” Added BMC Commissioner Jairaj Phatak, “We will take action against the doctor who wrongfully declared the infant dead, after getting the inquiry report.”

Dr Ashma refused to comment saying, “I have nothing to say.”

Sailing Alone ~ Zac Sunderland will become the youngest ever person to do so, if he succeeds

A teenager is looking to snatch the record of the youngest person to sail solo around the world set by an Australian 12 years ago.

On Saturday, when most people his age were settling into summer break, 16-year-old Zac Sunderland of Thousand Oaks, California, embarked in the afternoon in his 36-foot sailboat Intrepid in his attempt to circumnavigate the world.


A crowd of about 200 and a Coast Guard helicopter saw him off yesterday.

“There was a stiff breeze. But after Zac got settled, he was cruising comfortably,” Sunderland’s mother, Marianne Sunderland, wrote in a post on his website, www.zacsunderland.com. “He has a lot to do in the next days; stowing, organising and finding everything that was stowed and organised for him!”

If Sunderland completes the trip, he would become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo.

According to Guinness World Records, the youngest to pull off the feat is Australian David Dicks, who circled the globe at 18 in 1996.

Sunderland’s plan, which will inevitably go through many changes, is to complete his voyage in 11 months and return to California in April, when he will be 17.

World War II tanker unearthed

The tank was dug out from its muddy grave in France in near-perfect condition.

An American tank that formed part of the 1944 D-Day invasion force was discovered buried under a street in northern France.

French bomb disposal experts were brought in to ensure the military vehicle posed no danger before it was dug out from its muddy grave in near-perfect condition.

It is thought the tank from the 31st Tank Battalion formed part of the invasion force that liberated France from the Nazis more than six decades ago.

Older residents recalled the tank entering the city where it had been carrying out reconnaissance when it either ran out of fuel or broke down. When France was liberated it was pushed down a hole and buried, one resident said.

India discovers 67 animal species, 29 plant species

Indian scientists have discovered 67 new animal species, including fishes, spiders and crop eating insects, and 29 plant species, including grass and flower varieties, last year.

“All these discoveries were made in 2007 and they are vital additions to the plant and animal science of India and the world,” Ramakrishna, director of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), said yesterday.

“Whenever we come across any new species, we bring them to the laboratories and match them with the present ones and if they are unique then we record them,” he said.

He said a majority of the new species have come from western and eastern ghats, Andaman Nicober Islands and northeastern states.

He said ZSI has found 28 species from the eastern Himalayan region and two of them are new fish species.