SWEET JESUS

Medical miracle, as baby is born to mother who received transplanted uterus

IN a medical first for Spain, a baby has been born to a woman who received a uterus transplant. The child, Jesus, was born to Tamara Franco in Barcelona, after the organ was donated to her by her sister in 2020 via a complicated operation that lasted more than 20 hours.

By Simon Hunter

“It was a very tough but at the same time very beautiful process, and despite all of the risks it was worth it,” Franco explained. Franco, who is from Murcia, suffered from a condition called Rokitansky

SUGAR, SUGAR

CHILDREN in Spain scoff more than two times the amount of added sugars recommended by the World Health Organisation.

They consume 55.7 grams of added sugars per day, while the WHO suggests they shouldn’t exceed 25 daily grams. These figures have been published as part of a study undertaken by Granada University, in which 1,775 adults who have children aged between seven and 12 took part. Around two thirds of this sugar came from white sugar, sweets, cocoa powder, soft drinks, ice cream, biscuits, industrial cakes, chocolate bars, biscuits and sports drinks.

syndrome, which is when a woman is born with ovaries, but lacks a uterus and fallopian tubes.

It is a condition that approximately one in every 5,000 women suffer.

Medical staff at the Clinic Hospital in Barcelona chose Franco as their first case for the pioneering surgery. After the procedure was completed, the challenge was for her to become pregnant.

After several attempts to implant embryos and one miscarriage, she finally fell pregnant last September.

But the pregnancy was not without its complications, and Franco suffered preeclampsia – high blood pressure that could have been caused by the medication she has to take to stop her body from rejecting the organ. At the seven-month point of the pregnancy, the baby was delivered via a caesarian, with no complications.

Strong

The child, Jesus, was kept in a neonatal intensive care unit and was discharged once he weighed 3.2 kilograms and his lungs were sufficiently strong. According to the doctors who oversaw the procedure, it was first carried out in Sweden. So far around 100 uterus transplants have been carried out worldwide,with more than 50 births recorded.

A PATERNA health centre has reopened after it was forced to shut for 12 days following a series of violent attacks on medical staff. Workers took 'sick leave' following a string of incidents at the La Coma Health Centre, resulting in its closure on May 10. The last straw for staff was a patient lunging at a doctor with a knife.

Services resumed at La Coma on May 22 with two police officers standing a few metres away from the entrance.

Two private security guards are now scanning arrivals and looking at the contents of bags and backpacks. A person from the centre's administration team is also present at the front door to ask people about the reason for their visit and whether they had an appointment. The new security arrangements will remain in place on a permanent basis.