Premature Moroccan Infant Airlifted to Spain for Critical Care, Now Stable

The head of the pediatric and neonatal department of the Quironsalud hospital in Málaga, Manuel Baca Cots, tells El Español that he received an alert at three o’clock in the morning about a premature baby born in Morocco, weighing 550 grams, who needed to be transferred to Malaga. The child was urgently extracted from his mother’s belly, who was suffering from acute placental abruption (the placenta detaching from the inner walls of the uterus before the due date).

The operation was successful and the mother was saved after receiving a blood transfusion in intensive care. But the baby was extremely unstable. The doctors had to put him on respiratory assistance and administer a substance to help his lungs function normally. The child was fed intravenously and could only receive proteins.

To respond to this health emergency, a pediatric intensive care unit from the Malaga hospital boarded a medicalized plane bound for Morocco to pick up the newborn who had an anomaly: one of his lungs was no longer functioning. The transfer of the baby required adapted means to keep him alive until his destination. The unit placed him on a high-frequency respiratory device (600 breaths per minute).

Another problem was the child’s blood pressure. From 20/5 at birth, it stabilized at 40/25 before his transfer. For more safety, the unit placed a catheter in the baby’s navel to ensure continuous monitoring of his blood pressure. He continued to be fed intravenously with amino acids. Thus, the vital signs of the critical patient were maintained until the Malaga hospital. It was 9 o’clock in the morning. The child was quickly taken care of and is doing well, we are told. His parents, who remained in Morocco, were informed that he is safe and sound.