Iraqi child with 8 limbs gets successfully treated in India

April 14, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 14: An Iraq baby born with eight limbs, with two of them protruding from his stomach, got a new lease of life after doctors successfully removed the extra arms and legs through surgery.

The seven-month-old boy, Karam, was born with a very rare condition Polymelia, a birth defect in which the affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs.

The team of doctors at Jaypee Hospital in Noida performed the critical surgery in three stages.

"When Karam was brought to the hospital for the first time he was just two weeks old and his condition was very critical.

"After evaluating his condition and considering the risk factors we decided to operate him in multiple stages," Dr Gaurav Rathore, senior consultant in the Orthopaedics and Joint Replacement Department of the hospital said.

In the first stage, Karam's clubfeet was treated and the two limbs which were protruding out of his stomach were removed.

The child then went back to Iraq and his family was in touch with the doctors through phone and email for important instructions.

In the next stage of the surgery, the other two limbs were also removed from his body.
"Like any other normal kid, Karam also has two legs now," Rathore said.

However, as his left leg was not developed completely, doctors performed another surgery during which the muscles of the removed limbs were transplanted to his under developed leg.

Along with this, Karam's crooked back was also treated with pelvic osteotomy surgery.

Besides, he also suffered from corrected transposition of great arteries, a condition in which the heart's formation is completely opposite to the natural biological formation.

"In this condition the patient is always at a risk of a heart failure in future and so a surgery was performed to correct this condition," Dr Rajesh Sharma, Director of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, said.

Karam, doctors said, is recovering well and the family is flying back to Iraq this Monday.

Dr Abhishek, consultant in the Paediatrics Department said, "When the baby was brought to the hospital, his limbs and the intestines were distorted. The baby had only one kidney. One end of the intestine was connected to the other end through Anastomosis method."

Karam had one testicle on the right side but two testicles on the left side and that too inside the stomach which was also removed, he said.

During the surgery, the heart and intestine problems were also corrected and it took the doctors around six to seven hours in every stage of the operation, he added.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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