Despite current challenges, Santosh University Hospital handles over 50 COVID positive pregnancies successfully

Sep 21, 2020

Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): Nothing is more reassuring for young couples than a safe delivery of their child where the mother had complications compounded by COVID positivity.
Successful handling of such cases by Santosh University Hospital, Ghaziabad not only helped bring joy to the parents but introduced hope, faith and confidence of people in Santosh University Hospital with the assurance that expert and professional medical care was available even under the prevailing trying times of the pandemic.
While globally many hospitals were struggling to continue operations during the pandemic, Santosh healthcare Ghaziabad kept on elevating services standard under the able leadership of Dr P Mahalingam. 25-year-old healthcare group, not only expanded its base to cover every inch and every corner of Ghaziabad by opening Santosh Sudarshan hospital, and Santosh Maxwell Hospital among others; it also reserved 90 per cent of its 700 plus bedded flagship Santosh University hospital in the heart of city for COVID positive patients. The only L3 facility in Ghaziabad to address increasing number of COVID positive patients.
One of the toughest challenges during these testing times was to manage child delivery by expectant COVID positive mothers and ensuring post-natal care for both the mother and new-born child. While handling critical COVID positive cases by L3 hospitals required infrastructure, simultaneously handling COVID positive pregnant women with associated complications obviously needed additional expertise and extensive care. The special challenges which were very well addressed by the Santosh University Hospital. The hospital handled almost 50 COVID positive complicated pregnancies referred to it successfully.
Among such critical cases successfully handled was that of Rama (name changed) who had a precious pregnancy after 10 years of marriage with other clinical complications and entangled cord around the fetus neck. In the case of Reema, who had post-dated pregnancy and had been referred by four hospitals, a caesarean section ensured a healthy 3.3 kg baby.
Seema had a disproportionately expected baby of 4.07 kg as indicated by ultrasound which was once again successfully managed with a cesarean section and safety of mother and child. Nargis, a 26-year-old COVID positive patient with 28 weeks pregnancy requiring premature birth was skillfully induced for a 1.53 kg premature baby delivery and thereafter care for the premature child. On the other extreme an elderly 37 years old Sapna with decreased fetal movement and in a COVID positive state was managed with an emergency cesarean section.
"It is a tough time for everyone including healthcare professionals, perhaps, we have a much larger responsibility since not only we are managing healthcare for Ghaziabad and beyond for last 25 years, we are also producing doctors (both UG & PG) and paramedical professionals at Santosh University, who are working across the globe to address the current challenge that we all are into," said Dr P Mahalingam.
At the time of the outbreak of the pandemic, UP had L3 facilities only in six cities which was obviously inadequate to meet the requirement of handling the crisis. This is when Santosh University Hospital Ghaziabad stepped in to upgrade and make functional itself from an L2 facility to L3. The first L3 facility in the district with 700 plus bed capacity was created by upgrading the Santosh University Hospital. This provided critical care without the patients having to be shifted to other places. the move came with the initiative and support of the Chief Minister's Office.
Notwithstanding all the advancement and technology at hand, individual health remains a top priority with human beings. Health and associated areas like disease diagnosis, medication, inoculation and so on are perhaps the frontiers of research and technology. Translating these latest findings into deliverable and affordable healthcare for the masses remains one of the primary concerns of Santosh Healthcare, Ghaziabad.
Nothing poses a bigger health challenge today than the coronavirus pandemic. While the worldwide quest for suitable vaccine proceeds frantically, what can best be done is to limit its spread and take care of those infected. Despite the social distancing measure and extension of nationwide lockdown, there is a continuous rise in coronavirus positive cases in India. The worst affected states as per recent data by health ministry are Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The cases are rising daily. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, community transmission of COVID-19 is not happening in India. A three-tier system to deal with suspected and positive COVID-19 patients in UP and Delhi has been devised by the UP government proactively in April 2020. The approach to handling COVID is based on the concept of Test - Segregate and Isolate - Treat and Care which is being facilitated by Santosh Healthcare, Ghaziabad.
"Tough time forces you to disrupt the market, we already introduced Tele-consultation, home sample collection and home pharmacy among other homecare services. We are now working with our technology partner "Bravelily" towards launching an application-based home-isolation program for COVID positive patients with unique health score model that is first-of-its-kind in India," also added Dr P Mahalingam.
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