Covid-19 patient gives birth through c-section in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: A Covid-19 patient gave birth to a baby girl through Caesarean section at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, on Saturday — the first such case in the city.
“Our team was initially tense, but as soon as the delivery was done, we were all smiles,” said Dr Navneet Takkar, the operating surgeon from the department of gynaecology at GMCH. GMCH’s first case of coronavirus was reported in a health worker deployed in an operation theatre on April 24.
For the 27-year-old mother, it was not easy to hold back her tears when she was not allowed to hold her newborn. “The mother belongs to Bapu Dham Colony and has tested positive two days back. This is her second baby. The first was also delivered in our hospital,” said the gynaecologist. The baby will be tested for Covid-19 after two days.
Unlike the routine C section, the surgery took three hours as compared to 1-hour non-Covid-19 C section operation. “Donning and doffing of the personal protection equipment kits and working with these gears take a lot of time,” said Dr Takkar. The baby is kept in isolation and will be fed with milk from the milk bank in the hospital. “We cannot allow the mother to breastfeed until she is tested negative,” said Dr Takkar.