NEW DELHI - A 10-day-old baby born with a heart on the

outside of his body is recovering in an Indian hospital

after undergoing surgery to create space for the organ,

reports said Friday.

The unnamed boy from the eastern Indian state of Bihar

had a complete thoracic ectopia cordis, a rare condition

when a child is born with the heart in an abnormal

position, the reports said.

"We gently placed the heart partly in the heart cavity

and partly in the stomach cavity without twisting,

kinking or rotating anything," cardiac surgeon

A. K. Bishoi who operated on the boy told the

Hindustan Times newspaper.

Born to labourer parents, the infant was also

suffering from a blood infection after his parents

wrapped him in a thin towel to cover the "jutting out"

heart,the paper said.

He was brought to New Delhi in a non-air-conditioned

train from their native state at the height of the humid,

rainy season here and was then transferred to the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Doctors said the three-and-half-hour surgery was a

challenge as they had to push tiny lungs aside and

the liver to make space for the heart to be set while

ensuring that it continued to beat normally once

inside the body.

"We had to literally create a home for the heart in

the baby's body but I am glad he is showing signs of

recovery," Bishoi said but warned the child was still

in critical state.

"Now we have to see how he responds to the surgery.

Every minute is important," the surgeon told the

Press Trust of India.

"Only when he goes back home hale and hearty can

we conclude that this is a successful path-breaking

surgery in the history of our hospital," the doctor added.