Odisha: COVID-19 positive mom's twins joy shortlived as boy succumbs to birth weight complications

BERHAMPUR: In a first in Odisha, a Covid-19 positive woman gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, on Wednesday. Though it was a normal delivery, her happiness was short-lived as the boy, who weighed around 900 gm, died within a few hours owing to low-birth weight complications.

Sources said, the 32-year-old woman had returned with her husband from Surat on May 9.

She underwent Covid-19 test and was found positive on May 10.

In advanced stages of pregnancy, she developed labour pain while undergoing treatment at a Covid Hospital at Sitalapalli, on the outskirts of Berhampur city.

She was immediately rushed to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, where she gave birth to twins. 

Head of Paediatric department of the MCH, Dr Sunil Agarwal informed that the condition of the woman is stable but her daughter, who weighs 1600 grams, has developed some complications.

“A team of doctors is monitoring condition of the baby and her mother”, he said. They have been kept in Covid ward of the MCH separately. Samples of the newborn girl have been sent for tests. On the other hand, swab test of her husband is yet to be conducted and he has been lodged at a quarantine centre in Buguda block.

On Tuesday, another woman had given birth to a baby boy at a quarantine centre in the district.

The 28-year-old woman and her husband were kept at the quarantine centre after their return from Surat in a special train.

The couple has not been tested for Covid-19 yet. Assisted by the Asha, ANMs and other health staff deployed at the centre, she gave birth under the watch of Beguniapada hospital doctors.

Both the mother and son are stable and they have been shifted to the isolation ward of MKCG MCH. Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in the district spiked to 210 with 54 new cases reported on Wednesday.

Two of the patients recovered and were discharged from the Covid hospital on the day.