Mandi: A mother in a government hospital here, earlier in the month, delivered a abnormal child that had mermaid features. However, the child could not survive for long but the abnormal child was a center of attraction for both for medical specialists and the people in the region.
Doctors who assisted the mother deliver the child with both man-fish features said that the child suffered from mandamus syndrome. Odds of such baby births are a one is 1.50 lakhs,” said Kapil Malhotra, chief medical officer Mandi zonal hospital.
Though the child born was of male sex but it could not survive after birth. Parents of the newborn decided to donate the fetus to the hospital for specimen purposes.
Dr Malhotra said that this was the first case of its kind in North India and it would help to understand the evolution of embryonic development and mandamus syndrome.
During the course to embryonic development male fetus pass through different forms and shapes of embryos and often resemble embryos of others animals.
Such babies happen to normal in their forelimbs and abdominal part of the body but the hind limbs are joint and the feet appear to be like hind fins of fishes.
The specimen has been preserved in the hospital laboratory, especially for students of medical science who have been visiting the lab ever since birth of the mermaid child was reported.
Mohan Verma is a seasoned journalist, with more than a decade of experience of active reporting for news agencies and fast paced online media.
