Pankaj Desai's Blogs

“Sir there is a rupture uterus. She is looking very pale. We are arranging for blood. The anesthetists have been called” – it was a typical call from one of the junior doctor on duty from the  labor  room in the middle of the night. Such calls instantly awaken and put the consultant-on-duty in alert mode.  As I accelerated my car on the nearly deserted roads in the middle of the night, I did a mental rehearsal of what all complications and challenges I was likely to face and what all should be done. No wonder rupture uterus is called “electric emergency in obstetrics”. It is a potentially catastrophic event during childbirth by which the integrity of the uterus is breached. It is a life-threatening event for mother and baby. Rupture uterus: Baby dead, mother endangered As I was racing up the stairs to the  labor  room operation theater, I passed a junior doctor. He was obviously breathless hurrying back from the blood-bank carrying two un...

Bleeding Emergency She was rushed down to the obstetric emergency rooms with advanced pregnancy, increased blood pressure and heavy bleeding. Almost immediately she delivered. Her baby was a stillborn.  It did not stop at that. Because of raised blood pressure and bleeding for a long time before she could reach the hospital, her kidneys failed.   This was indeed a bad condition to have. Thankfully her kidney failure appeared to be of the type where recovery was possible. But in the mean time she needed dialysis. As luck would have it, all the three dialysis units at the hospital were dysfunctional and so she had to be shifted to another government hospital in a still bigger city about a 100 miles away. Hospital Transfer Ambulance Obviously she was in no position to spend for her transport but the hospital had the facility to transfer her free in its ambulance. Though the main part of the dialysis at the government hospital was free, each cycle of dialysis wou...