Bhubaneswar: A coronavirus-positive woman gave birth to a male baby at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) on Thursday.
KIMS, the country’s first dedicated COVID-19 hospital, had successfully treated a few infected pregnant women who were isolated, taken care of and sent home after testing negative. This is the first case of the hospital handling childbirth by a COVID positive woman.
The lady, who had returned from outside Odisha, was referred by a quarantine centre to KIMS on May 30. Her expected delivery date being June 21, the hospital planned to hold intervention till she tests negative or goes into labour, whichever is earlier.
The OT, all equipment and medical personnel were kept ready in the COVID hospital to respond with normal or operative delivery.
Gynaecology PG residents Dr Nity and Dr Anuradha were looking after the lady, in consultation with senior doctors. Though the patient had a C-section delivery earlier, normal delivery this time around was considered a possibility.
And so it happened. The young doctors took all precaution in monitoring the high-risk case and helped her deliver a healthy boy at around 3 pm.
Both mother and child are doing well, said hospital authorities.