A seven-month-old baby girl in northeast China has had a pacemaker implanted in her heart, making her the second youngest in China to have a pacemaker.

The baby, called Xinyi, was born with a heart rate of only 40 times a minute, one third of that of a healthy baby.

"Shortly after the surgery was finished, her heart rate was clocked at 60 times a minute," said Meng Fanchao, the doctor in charge of the operation with Jilin Heart Disease Hospital.

The pacemaker, made in the United States, is as small as a matchbox, said Meng.

"The baby's heart is scarred by the previous surgery and it is too small to have muscles. We found it extremely hard to fix the pacemaker," Meng said. "When Xinyi reaches the age of ten, she will need to have a new pacemaker implanted."

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)