A grateful Bradford dad has sung the praises of the NHS for saving his baby boy’s life, bringing the tot back from the brink of death.

Talha Al Affan Choudhury was born a hefty 13lbs after an emergency section at Bradford Royal Infirmary earlier this month but his parents’ joy soon turned to fear when a check by midwives back on the maternity ward revealed his lungs were failing.

He was taken to neo-natal special care where doctors put him on a ventilator under sedation, breaking the news that there was a risk he might not survive.

His take-away boss dad Dil Karom Choudhury, 40, said nurses and doctors worked round the clock to do their best for him before deciding his best chance was to go to the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester for treatment.

Mr Choudhury said staff at the unit, only one of three in the UK, were able to get him stabilised and on the mend and by the following afternoon, the recovering tot was being flown back to Bradford by air ambulance to be reunited with his mum Fatema, 36.

Doctors on the BRI’s transitional care maternity ward are so pleased with Talha’s progress that they let him leave for the family home in Leeds Road, Eccleshill, yesterday to be with his waiting sisters and older brothers aged 14, 12 and 11.

Mr Choudhury said: “They’ve been to see their little brother on the ward but can’t wait to get him home and make a fuss of him.

“Without the NHS and these wonderful nurses and doctors who worked round the clock for my son, he would not be alive today. They saved him.

“I want to say thank you for everything they did but words don’t seem enough which is why I wanted to tell my story. We are so lucky to have the NHS.”

Talha, who is believed to be one of the biggest babies to be born at BRI, is now expected to lead a perfectly normal life without any long-term effects.

The condition he had was caused by problems with the bloodflow from his heart to his lungs and is called persistent pulmonary hypertension. It can happen in newborns sometimes without any cause but can be cured with extra oxygen and other treatments.