A ‘miracle’ baby who was born without a nose, eyes or part of his skull and was only given hours to live has just turned two years old.

Little Rodrigo, who was dubbed the ‘bebe sem rostro’ (‘baby with no face’), turned two on Thursday, 7th October, following his birth in the Portuguese city of Setubal in 2019.

The case made international headlines at the time because obstetrician Dr Artur Carvalho of the private clinic Ecosado had failed to detect any problem with the unborn baby during pregnancy.

It was only during a 5D ultrasound scan at another clinic that the parents, Marlene Simao and Constantino Alves, were warned of possible malformations.

A criminal case was opened after it was found that Dr Carvalho was the subject of over a dozen complaints under investigation by the Order of Physicians.

In another five cases, he had allegedly also failed to detect malformations in unborn babies during the pregnancies.

Dr Carvalho was at first preventively suspended for six months and then expelled from the Order of Physicians in April last year, with the obstetrician subsequently appealing the decision.

However, he ended up retiring on 1st July this year, and the case was shelved by the Public Prosecution Service, which said there was no evidence he had committed a crime.

Rodrigo is being monitored at hospitals in Setubal and the capital, Lisbon, where he underwent a crucial operation last year to allow for his skull to develop.