Doctors recently succeeded in repairing defects in the heart of an eight day old male infant at a local hospital in this capital of Hebei Province, north China.

It was the first time that local doctors have been successful with such an operation, said sources with the Provincial Children' s Hospital.

On February 25, Li Ying, a woman from the city's outskirts, gave birth to the boy, but three days later, the boy was found to be suffering from the cardiac defects. The infant might have died without the operation, the sources noted.

On March 5, the doctors took more than three hours to make up the defects in the interauricular septum and the interventricular septum of the boy. It proved to be a success. On March 28, the infant left the hospital for home and has been doing well.