New Delhi: Doctors at a city hospital successfully treated a Liberian boy who was bed-ridden for the last 11 years.
According to doctors, Mohammad Ibrahim Miringa, a 15-year-old cheerful young boy from Liberia, is a known patient of sickle cell anaemia. He became bed-ridden and was unable to perform any activity.
This longstanding weakness led to muscle atrophy and his joints became fixed in contracted position. This was caused by severe spasticity or tightness owing to abnormal nervous control.
Doctors claimed that this is a congenital condition in which the red blood cells are abnormal and tend to clump in the arteries, especially if a patient is dehydrated.
Ibrahim had such a crisis in 2008 and as a result had a stroke in the brain. This resulted in gradual progressive weakness in his limbs, starting in the legs and now involving the upper limbs as well.
His father, a diplomat in his country, was a dejected man due to his son’s agonising condition.
Dr Ashish Shrivastava, the head of department and senior consultant of neuro surgery, and senior consultant Dr Abhinav Gupta of Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital said that they started his treatment to reduce spasticity.
“The child and his father are wildly happy and ecstatic. Ibrahim is eating oranges with his own hand! He is able to move his arms and legs after eleven years. Words cannot describe the joy and tears of happiness we see in his father.
“After this successful trial, an intrathecal drug delivery pump was inserted and baclofen started in microdosage directly in the cerebrospinal fluid,” they said, adding that the results were dramatic the following day.
