NEW DELHI , India ( CNN ) -- The father of a baby born with his heart protruding from his chest has told CNN about the 1100 km train journey he made to save his son 's life . Chander Majhi 's son was born with his heart outside his chest and faces complex surgery . Chander Majhi , 24 , became a father last week but he had to leave his wife behind in hospital and make a train journey from a remote region along India 's border with Nepal to the capital New Delhi . His son was born with his heart protruding from his chest , an extremely rare condition called ectopia cordis , which only affects five to eight cases in one million live births . The parents did not know about the defect until the child was born on August 25 at a government facility in Majhi 's home state of Bihar in eastern India . `` We did n't go for any ( pre-natal ) tests , '' Majhi told CNN . Doctors at the government facility referred him and the baby to New Delhi 's All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS ) . Professor of cardiothoracic surgery at AIIMS , A.K . Bisoi , told CNN the baby was admitted to the hospital with dehydration and a severe infection which he probably suffered because of the arduous train journey . Doctors were surprised that the child had been able to survive despite so many complexities , he said . Doctors at the state-run AIIMS are now planning a complex surgery on Thursday for the boy , referred in their records as `` baby of Vibha , '' his mother . His heart has been covered with a synthetic membrane and infected blood fully replaced from his body , said A.K . Bisoi , professor of cardiothoracic surgery at AIIMS . Surgeons may now plan a total circulatory arrest procedure that will also involve creating a home for the heart in the chest , said Bisoi . The baby , who suffers from immunodeficiency , will be put in a state where his blood will be cooled down to 18 degrees ( 64 Fahrenheit ) for a half-an-hour stage of the operation , he explained . `` We could carry it out in one go , if the child is able to tolerate . If not , we will do it in stages , '' he said . `` We are working with hope , '' Bisoi remarked when asked about chances of success . And it was the same hope that drove Majhi to Delhi . `` That is why I am here . There 's hope . My child is a fighter , '' he said . In 2006 , doctors in the U.S. state of Florida carried out a similar operation on Naseem Hasni who was born with his heart outside his chest . The operation was carried out immediately after Naseem was born by caesarean section at a Florida hospital . Doctors wrapped his heart in Gore-Tex , a waterproof , breathable fabric used in outdoor clothing and medical applications . His heart was then wrapped in a layer of his own skin , to substitute for his missing pericardium , the sac that encloses the heart . The heart was then slowly eased inside .
NEW : Father speaks about 1100 km train journey to save his son . Newborn baby with heart protruding from his chest faces complex surgery Thursday . The baby has severe infection and hole in his heart . Doctors in New Delhi say only five to eight cases of this kind in one million live births .