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This is an archive article published on April 7, 2021

Pune: Delay in finding an ICU bed, pregnant woman dies after delivering twins

Eventually, an ICU bed was arranged at the YCM hospital itself, after one of the patients occupying an ICU bed, but whose condition had improved, was shifted to a normal bed. However, the woman could not be saved.

She underwent a caesarean operation and delivered two baby girls on Monday evening.

Hours after she gave birth to two healthy baby girls, a 35-year-old woman succumbed to COVID-19 at the PCMC-run YCM hospital on Tuesday, due to a delay in arranging an ICU bed for her.

The woman, who hailed from Pimprigaon area of Pimpri-Chinchwad, was admitted to the YCM hospital three days ago. She underwent a caesarean operation and delivered two baby girls on Monday evening. Her oxygen levels dipped after the operation and she was required to be put in an ICU. However, no ICU beds were immediately available at the hospital. Doctors asked the family members to check at other hospitals, but they were not successful.

Eventually, an ICU bed was arranged at the YCM hospital itself, after one of the patients occupying an ICU bed, but whose condition had improved, was shifted to a normal bed. However, the woman could not be saved.

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“After the delivery, her condition deteriorated and did not improve. Her oxygen level dipped and she had to be admitted to intensive care unit. She was put on ventilator and passed away on Tuesday morning,” YMCH dean Dr Rajendra Wable said.

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The two babies are doing fine, doctors said.

Dr Wable said the woman was due for delivery this month. “The woman had a thyroid problem and other comorbidities…” he said.

The patient was first admitted to the hospital between March 28 to April 1, and was then sent for home isolation. “On April 4, the patient was readmitted after she complaint of cough, fever, headache and sore throat. On admission her oxygen level was 93 per cent,” doctors at the hospital said.

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On Monday, at 4pm, the patient complaint of backache and breathlessness. Her oxygen level had dropped to 88 per cent. “She was given medicine and the high risk involved was explained to her relatives. She was also put on remdesivir.”

Also Read | PMC to provide Oxygen beds in CCC to cater to increasing demand of Oxygen therapy for patients

Around 7 pm on Monday, under spinal anaesthesia, emergency Caesarean section operation was done. “The surgery was uneventful. The patient delivered two female child of 2.1kg at 7.16 pm and 1.5 kg at 7.20 pm . Both babies were immediately admitted in NICU,” a doctor said.

Since the patient’s oxygen level had dropped to 85 per cent, doctors decided to shift her to the ICU. However, not a single ICU bed with ventilator was available at YCM hospital.

Dr Mangle Supe, who treated the patient, said, “We had informed the patients’ relatives to search for a ventilator bed in ICU. They tried Sassoon and other hospital but could not find the bed.” In the absence of ICU bed, the patient was treated in COVID labour room where she was provided oxygen support. The patient’s oxygen level had then dropped to 63 per cent.

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At 11 pm on Monday, an ICU bed was made available for the patient. “We finally managed to accommodate the patient in the ICU….One of the patients whose condition had improved considerably was shifted out of the ICU,” said Dr Wable.

The patient was put on non-invasive ventilator support. Her oxygen level improved to 86 per cent. “Around 12.10 am on Tuesday, the patient became unconscious…she was intubated. The patient went into sudden cardiac arrest at 10.15 am. All efforts to revive her failed…the patient was declared dead at 10.55 am on Tuesday,” doctors said.

Dr Wable said both the babies are healthy. “Their test report is awaited,” he added.

Dr Wable said there were 20 pregnant women admitted to YCM hospital currently. “Of these, three are in the intensive care units,” he said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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