Six days after birth the child began turning blue, a sign of severe oxygen deprivation.

His father, Ale Xiong, a radiologist at Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital, and his mother, a nurse, rushed him to the emergency room.

But doctors could not perform the surgery since the baby weighed less than six kilograms, the minimum weight requirement in Laos for infant heart operations.

With their son's condition deteriorating, the family turned to Vietnam for help. Thanks to previous professional connections and the mother’s fluency in Vietnamese due to her internship in the country, they contacted the Hanoi Heart Hospital.

The surgery was arranged and on May 28 the newborn was admitted in critical condition, struggling to breathe, coughing persistently and showing severe cyanosis. His oxygen saturation level had dropped to just 60%.

Doctors quickly diagnosed him with a rare and complex combination of congenital heart defects: transposition of the great arteries, ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus. Without immediate surgical correction, his survival was uncertain.

Nguyen Sinh Hien, director of the Hanoi Heart Hospital, convened an emergency meeting and doctors decided to perform an emergency surgery. It was led by Dr Nguyen Dang Hung, head of the pediatric cardiothoracic surgery department.

While the hospital routinely performs such complex surgeries, in this case time was a critical factor. The hospital is capable of operating on infants weighing as little as 800 grams.

The procedure was a success. Within three days, the baby was breathing on his own with ventilator support, and his oxygen saturation had risen to 98%, a healthy level.

He is now expected to be transferred to the general pediatric ward and, if all goes well, be discharged within the next week to 10 days.