China's first baby born to a liver-transplant patient, was in a stable condition and the mother was discharged from hospital on Tuesday in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The baby boy, which was born prematurely 12 days ago after an emergency Cesarean section, weighs 2 kg now and has been able to breathe without the help of a machine, said Chen Yongxiu, a doctor with the Huaxi No.2 Hospital in Chengdu, capital of the province.

"The infant has drunk about 70 milliliters of milk every day and this is an important improvement," said Chen, who added the baby was still under intensive care.

The mother Luo Jiwei, 25, who had a liver-transplant operation four years ago at the same hospital, has recovered from the operation and after an physical examination on Monday, doctors judged she could go back home for further recuperation.

"The doctors in the Huaxi hospital saved me four years ago and now they have given the second life to my son. So, my husband and I decided to name the baby "Zhao Huaxi" after the hospital, as a 'thank you' to all the people who helped us," said Luo in tears.

Luo Jiwei had suffered from sclerotic cholangitis and liver abscesses. When she was transferred to the hospital in September 2000, she was on the verge of death.

Without a liver transplant, she would have survived only one month, said Yan Lunan, a physician in charge of the liver transplant operation.

In the wake of group consultation, Luo had a liver transplant operation the same month she was hospitalized. As the operation was successful, she was discharged from the hospital three weeks later.

After seeking approval from Dr. Yan, Luo got married in late 2002 and was found pregnant at a routine medical check at the hospital last November.

To ensure a safe delivery, obstetricians at the Huaxi Hospital had decided to perform a C-section in April. But doctors found the fetus was abnormally less active on the morning of March 19 and decided to immediately carry out the operation.

The operation well very smoothly but the baby was in a critical condition after being born due to medication effects and underdevelopment.

"Luo is really a brave mother because she could have died at any minute during her pregnancy or the operation, which can cause liver failure," said Mao Meng, president of the hospital.

Liver transplant is considered the most difficult operation of all organ transplants. Since the first liver transplant was conducted in the United States in 1963, 100,000 patients have undergone the procedure around the world. Thirty-seven became pregnant after the operation.

Huaxi No.2 Hospital, one of the five research centers performing liver transplants in China, conducted the first liver transplant in 1979.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2004)