Parents in dilemma over baby born with brain outside skull

Housewife Hasida Ahmad, 35, said the condition which Muhammad Fakhrullah Firdaus was born with affected his development and needed intensive care.

The resident of the Simpang Kuala Flats here said she only realised the medical condition of her third child on April 2, when she saw a lump on the back of his head.

"I was fine when I was pregnant with him, and the doctor did not detect the problem until I delivered him," she said when met at her house here Sunday.

She said an operation to cut away a part of the brain outside the skull could not be performed as the baby could die.

She added that Muhammad Fakhrullah was in pain as an egg-sized (five centimetres) part of his brain outside the skull was hurting and had to be wrapped in clean cloth to avoid infection.

Meanwhile, Hasida's husband, Firdaus Mohd Rahim, 35, who earns RM1,000 a month said he spent about RM400 each month on his son, besides supporting the couple's two other sons, aged eight and five years.

He said Muhammad Fakhrullah would suffer epileptic fits once or twice a week for several minutes before returning to normal.