BANGALORE, India - Nearly a week after surgeons removed the extra limbs from an Indian girl born with four arms and four legs, the bright-eyed 2-year-old made her first public appearance Tuesday.
The girl, named Lakshmi, appeared before reporters without the extra limbs which had led some people in her rural village to revere her as an incarnation of the four-armed goddess she was named after.
Poonam holds her daughter Lakshmi inside a ward of the Sparsha Hospital in Bangalore, India, Tuesday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Sparsha Hospita
Looking healthy and alert, Lakshmi had both of her legs in casts while her arms were free.
After sitting for photographs, her parents quickly ushered her off the stage without speaking to reporters.
Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped twin.
Lakshmi's doctors were encouraged by her progress and said she was responding well enough to treatment to leave the hospital's intensive care unit.
"She is coping very well and she is stable," said chief surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil. "Lakshmi is safe at the moment."
A team of more than 30 surgeons finished a 24-hour operation last Wednesday at a hospital in the southern city of Bangalore. They removed the extra limbs, transplanted a kidney from the twin and reconstructed Lakshmi's pelvic area.
Lakshmi has begun eating solid food again and has been off her respirator since Friday, Patil said.
But despite her swift progress, Patil cautioned that Lakshmi still had a long way to go toward a full recovery.
"We still have things to do, but so far, so good," he said.
Lakshmi will need further treatment and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk. Her wounds from surgery are still healing and Patil said they will continue to monitor her closely.
The casts on her legs are intended to keep her inverted feet straight and the legs together.
He did not say when she might be able to return home.
Children born with deformities in rural India like the remote village in the northern state of Bihar where Lakshmi comes from are often viewed as reincarnated gods.
More world Headlines »
- Musharraf expects to quit army post by end of November
- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf says he expects to step down from his role as army chief by the end of November and begin a new presidential term as a civilian.
- At least 2 dead after strong earthquakes strike Chile
- A strong earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, just hours after a magnitude-7.7 tremor shook the region, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Authorities reported at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries.
- Travel delays loom as Britain moves to defend against terrorism
- Travellers face new delays and disruption on trips to Britain under plans unveiled Wednesday to tighten defences against terrorism at airports, rail stations and major public spaces.
- British poultry killed in bid to contain avian flu outbreak
- Avian flu's return to Britain is another blow to farmers already struggling after livestock herds were hit this year by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue.
- 14 of 17 Iraqi civilian killings by Blackwater guards unjustified: reports
- A spokeswoman for Blackwater Worldwide said the U.S. private security company supports "stringent accountability" if any wrongdoing of its guards are found, but said little else in response to a news report that the FBI has found the killing of at least 14 of 17 Iraqi civilians on Sept. 16 was unjustified.
