New Delhi, May 10 (IANS): A three-year-old Afghan boy got a new lease of life as doctors at a hospital here removed a 750-gram tumour from his chest in a six-hour surgery on Tuesday.

According to the doctors, the tumour had covered the entire right lung of Muzamil and started affecting other vital organs such as heart and blood vessels.

"This was a very unique case. The tumour was so big that it covered the entire right lung and was connected to the vertebra of the back and ribs of the lungs," Vipendra Sabarwal, Director of Jeewan Hospital, told IANS.

His parents approached several hospitals in Afghanistan but when none of them took up the case due to lack of advance medical treatment, high cost and high risk involved, the patient was brought to India.

However, the problems did not end there for Muzamil as several private hospitals in the national capital quoted upto Rs 5.5 lakh for removing the tumour without any assurance of his survival.

Later, Jeewan Hospital came to his rescue as the doctors not only took up the case but also helped in meeting the cost of the treatment.

Sabarwal said such medical cases are extremely rare and occur one in a million people.

"Usually such patients have 10-20 per cent chances of survival but it increases depending on the progress of health within days of the surgery. In Muzamil's case now there are 70-80 per cent chance of his survival," he said.

Muzamil continues to recover at the hospital ICU.