Baby Falak coping well after fifth surgery: Doctor

Battling for survival at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for over a month, two-year-old battered baby Falak is coping well after the fifth life-saving surgery, a doctor treating her said Wednesday.

"Two days after the shunt surgery, Falak is coping well. The water which collected in the brain, putting pressure on the head, is now drained by the tube which was implanted connecting her brain to her abdomen," Deepak Agrawal, assistant professor (neurosurgery) at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, told IANS.

Agrawal, however, said that Falak's dependence on the ventilator for about a month was not a good sign, as she could develop respiratory diseases.

"We don't want her to be continuously on ventilator support. If a patient is on the ventilator for a long period, the chances of getting respiratory-associated pneumonia increases. Therefore, we are trying to gradually remove her from ventilator support. In the next two days, we will try to take her off ventilator support and if she can resume breathing on her own without difficulty it would be a good sign," Agrawal added.

Falak was admitted to AIIMS Jan 18 with a fractured skull, bruises and human bite marks all over her body.