He was suffering from thoracic ectopia cordis, a 'rarest of the rare heart defect' in which the heart is abnormally located. Occurring in five to nine cases in one million births, the mortality rate among the cases is very high.

Kept in the intensive cardiac care unit of the Cardio-Thoracic Sciences Centre, the infant went through his first exchange blood transfusion Sunday night as his blood was infected.

As the family is very poor, the institute is treating the child free of cost.

'These kind of children are either born dead or die within 36 hours. He has already created a record by surviving for so many days. It is a lifetime opportunity for professionals to learn how to deal with such kind of situation,' Bisoi said.