29 pregnant women, new moms test Covid positive in Mangaluru hospital

MANGALURU: The Dakshina Kannada health department has set aside an additional 14-bed ward at the government Lady Goschen Hospital in Mangaluru for pregnant women and new mothers who have tested Covid-positive. In the last one week, 25 pregnant women and new mothers have tested positive and most of them are asymptomatic. Two newborns too  tested positive.

Dr Durgaprasad M R, Medical Superintendent, Lady Goschen Hospital, said they have created a dedicated WhatsApp group to monitor the health of these patients. “The taluk and district health officials keep a check on these patients through junior health assistants, who follow up on their health status post-delivery. These measures have been taken as once patients get discharged, they go out of the health department’s supervision. We refer to the ‘Thayi card’ and collect their details. We started the WhatsApp group in April when the cases started rising,” he added.

“There is a separate labour room and operation theatre for Covid patients. We now have 25 beds for pregnant women and we have added 14 more, which are for Covid-suspect patients,” he said.Between May 1 and 12, 29 pregnant women and new mothers out of over 200 who underwent RTPCR test have tested Covid-positive. Out of 17 deliveries, four are normal, nine are C-section and three foetuses were aborted for non-Covid reasons. 

Dr Smitha, a gynaecologist, said, “If pregnant women have any symptoms, they should discuss them with doctors. If patients are exposed to a high viral load, they can have complications like breathlessness, requirement of hospitalisation  and may have preterm delivery too. Sometimes, babies too could be positive. If a mother has diabetes and hypertension and is infected with Covid, it gets complicated,” she said.