(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-10 21:54

Lakshmi, second from left, sits in her mother Poonam's lap as she poses next to with her father Shambhu and brother Mithilesh, right, at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. [Agencies]

"They say she is going to be back to normal, I believe them. It is a debt I could never repay."

Doctors said the girl would have been unlikely to live into her teens with her condition, and gave the surgery an 80 percent chance of success.

Once the child is out of danger, doctors plan a rehabilitation programme including physiotherapy to strengthen her legs and teach her how to walk.

"We have seen many miracles and hope this one (of her walking) will happen soon," said Sharan Patil who headed the 36-member operating team that included surgeons with a range of specializations from paediatrics to plastic surgery.

"She has withstood the surgery well," he added.

But "some of her parameters still have to stabilise. It might take some time," Patil said.

Lakshmi was brought to Bangalore for the surgery by her father and mother Poonam, now pregnant for a third time.

A New Delhi hospital had earlier refused to perform the operation, saying the case was too complex and the cost prohibitive.

The surgery, which cost 2.4 million rupees (60,000 dollars), was performed free by the Bangalore hospital.

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