Nagpur: Amid the daily rollcall of tragedies due to Covid, a particularly wrenching one came to fore on Thursday. A woman in her thirties, who was 32-weeks pregnant, died after fighting Covid-19 for three weeks. However, the doctors did not let her motherhood die. They performed a perimortem caesarean section and delivered a premature baby boy moments before she breathed her last.
“This woman from Nagpur who used to work in Mumbai. She got admitted in a critical condition of Covid-19 in our hospital on April 7. Here, she suffered cardiac arrest and was put on ventilator. As per protocol, we decided to perform perimortem caesarean section as a last attempt to save her,” said Dr Payal Agrawal, obstetrician, at Kingsway Hospital, Nagpur.
This type of C-Section is performed during imminent cardiac arrest or active cardiac arrest with the ultimate goal to resuscitate the mother and improve fetal survivability.
“As it was not possible to move the patient to the operation theatre, we decided to perform a bedside C-Section. It was done in a superfast manner on ICU bed, where the woman was,” Dr Agrawal said. Dr Sushil Lohiya, laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon, assisted her. Dr Deepak Goel, senior paediatric surgeon along with Dr Manish Sonkusare, cardiac anaesthetist resuscitated the newborn with able support of paramedical and nursing staff.
Dr Virendra Belekar was the critical care consultant handling the patient. He informed that the patient’s condition was serious right from the day she was diagnosed with Covid-19.
“As per her reports, Covid-19 infection was detected sometime in Mid-March when she reached Nagpur at her maternal home for her first delivery. She was admitted to a private hospital where she was treated symptomatically until April 7. Her CT value was serious right from Day 1. When shifted to our hospital, she was critical,” he said.
Doctors told TOI that pregnant women needed to take special care during the second wave of the Covid-19. All members in the family must wear masks at home also and the expecting mother must stay in a protected environment. Pregnancy itself is a vulnerable condition to viral infections and would-be mothers are at greater risk, they said.