A woman has given birth despite spending the last seven months of her pregnancy in a coma.

The new mother, who is known as Shafiya, has been left in a state of unconsciousness since suffering considerable head injuries after falling off a motorbike in March.

But her baby girl has been born fit and healthy.

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Shafiya, from Uttar Pradesh in northern India, sustained the serious injuries just 40 days into her pregnancy when she was travelling without wearing a helmet on the back of a motorbike driven by her partner.

Her burqa subsequently became tangled in the rear wheel, which resulted in the bike crashing.

Since then, Shafiya has undergone five different neurological operations at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in Bulandshahr.

Doctors initially considered whether or not to abort Shafiya's pregnancy because of her condition but an encouraging ultrasound scan led to the decision, made in conjunction with the family, not to opt for a termination.

There were complications along the way with the 23-year-old spending time on a ventilator and having part of her skull removed to relieve pressure on her brain.

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But Shafiya's daughter was born on October 22, even though her mother was rated as having only a 10 to 15% chance of leaving her coma.

Shafiya no longer needs a ventilator and the occasional head and leg movements she makes mean the medics and her family have not yet given up hope that she might one day meet her baby.

Commenting on the "highly unusual" pregnancy, surgeon Dr Deepak Gupta declared: "I haven’t come across any such case in my 22-year neurosurgical career at the AIIMS. She is presently in stable condition and is not on ventilator support.

"There is a resistance to wearing a helmet while riding pillion, especially from the Muslim and Sikh community. Women, or anyone, who rides pillion on a two-wheeler, should wear helmets."

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