NEW DELHI:  A woman and one of her premature twin babies have survived thanks to high-risk surgeries performed by doctors at a private hospital here, officials said on Friday. The woman recently underwent a dual surgery, wherein an intestinal blockage was successfully removed and a C-section was performed, with her giving birth to twins who were 14 weeks premature, they said.

“All of this happened in the thick of the COVID-19-induced lockdown. While both the babies miraculously survived, one of them developed complications, for which the baby had to undergo two invasive surgeries spanning over two months,” a spokesperson of Fortis hospital in Shalimar Bagh said.

The woman, 26-week pregnant with twins, was referred to the hospital with an “intestinal obstruction”. On presentation, initial conservative measures were adopted to relieve the obstruction and prolong the pregnancy, the hospital authorities said.

However, these proved to be futile. The patient needed to undergo two surgeries simultaneously — one to remove the blockage and a C-section to deliver the twins, they said. Since the babies were premature, there was a “very high chance” they would not survive, doctors said.

The woman underwent the dual surgery and delivered babies, a boy and a girl, around the end of March. The girl weighed 800 g and the baby boy weighed 1000 g, the spokesperson said.