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...

I remember as a resident doctor doing post-graduation in obstetrics and gynecology there was this lady senior consultant of ours who always had her anger on the tip of her nose.  We all used to be terrified of her and many would run helter-skelter on seeing her.  Once while I was doing some post-operative routine work in the wards I heard a big commotion near the operation theater door. She was shouting at the top of her voice. Inquisitively, I went closer to find an old man standing in front of her trembling and with folded hands as if pleading for mercy. She was blasting him. It seems she on coming out of the operation theater on finishing some difficult surgery saw something unsavory.  There were beedi ( a thin, Indian cigarette filled with tobacco flake and wrapped in a tendu leaf tied with a string at one end ) stubs littered all around plump near the door of the Operation Theater. I did not need a minute to understand what must have happened. The man must b...