On 26 April, the timely action of the junior doctors at the Dr Sushila Nayar Hospital, Melghat (an off-shoot of Kasturba Hospital, Sevagram) saved a tribal woman’s life after she delivered her baby. Soon after the delivery, she pushed hard to get the placenta out of her womb. Although the placenta came out, the uterus got inverted and the patient began to bleed heavy enough for the blood pressure to drop. Not sure what the right strategy should be, the junior doctors immediately phone-called the senior gynaecologists at MGIMS Sevagram. Using telecommunication, the senior obstetricians instructed them step-by-step and explained how to push the uterus back and how to stop her bleeding.
“The online tips served their purpose; with the uterus pushed back, the woman stopped bleeding and got out of the operating room. The woman also received blood and is now in the pink of health”, informed Dr Poonam Shivkumar Verma (Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, MGIMS). The scene looked straight out of the Three Idiots movie”, she added in a lighter note.
“Telemedicine has been steadily on the rise for years. It has become a mainstream form of patient interaction because it defies the time-honoured custom of the physical visit. I am happy that Our digital tools could keep our teams connected and the team team took advantage of the technology to ward off a potential disaster”, said Dr SP Kalantri (Medical Superintendent, Kasturba Hospital, Sevagram). Mr Anay Shukla, Legal- Health Laws Specialist, has recently developed legal guidelines to overcome regulatory and commercial hurdles and use this technology in the healthcare sector”, informed Dr Verma.
Dr Noopur Singh and Dr Mihir Ranade (obstetricians) teamed with the anesthesiologists and interns to perform the commendable task.
“We are happy that our sustained efforts have helped us achieve reducing the mother and child deaths in this region”, said Dr S Chhabra (Officer on Special Duty, Dr Sushila Nayar Hospital, Melghat).