As Cyclone Biparjoy struck Gujarat, medical staff at Mesariya Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Morbi district's Wankaner taluka late on Thursday night was hurriedly preparing for the safe delivery of three pregnant women. For two of them, the delivery was set to happen before the due date. As the night passed, the team - including Medical Officer Dr Javed Masakputra, Ayush Medical Officer Dr Sujata Chudasma and nurses Indu Bhagat, Daksha Mer, and Mubina Shersariya - conducted three normal deliveries in the face of challenges amid cyclone. Kinjal Sitapara, who was wheeled in by a local female health worker from Bhamgam village in Wankaner, delivered a healthy baby boy while two other women also safely delivered their newborns at the Mesariya PHC. Morbi district's Reproductive and Child Health Officer (RCHO) Dr Vipul Karoliya said, "At around 11.30 pm, just as the cyclone was intensifying, two women in advanced stages of pregnancy came to the PHC. These women were due in the first week of July but they had early labour and contacted their local health worker, who is in touch with pregnant women under her jurisdiction. They were immediately brought to the PHC in the ambulance, where the staff safely conducted the deliveries. Additionally, one woman, who had already been shifted to the PHC as part of the tracking and evacuation of women in advanced pregnancy ahead of the cyclone, also delivered a baby." On Friday too, the district's Vavaniya PHC saw a woman admitted to the health centre, delivering a baby, Karoliya said. As per a government release, the district administrations of eight high-risk districts had shifted 1,152 pregnant women to safer medical centres in view of the cyclone. Of these, 707 women delivered their babies at the medical centres where they were shifted ahead of the cyclone's landfall, the government release said.
