Time and tide waits for no man. Yes, true indeed! A help when it reaches out in time can save lives. Here is a recent example where knowledge helped a woman deliver her baby on a running train on time in Andhra Pradesh.
A medical student, who completed her final year of ‘MBBS’ and is presently a house surgeon at ‘Gandhi Institute of Technology And Management (GITAM) Medical College’, Visakhapatnam, used her medical knowledge to help the pregnant women deliver baby on a running train.
The incident took place in Anakapalle district on September 14, Tuesday.
Medico- Swathi Reddy with the baby girl.
The Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Duronto Superfast Express train had already crossed Rajamahendravaram and had no further halts till Visakhapatnam.
The husband of the pregant woman, Satyanarayana requested the co-passengers to come to his wife’s rescue, but nobody could help her.
The couple, Satyanarayana and Satyavathi from Ponnam village of Cheepurupalli block in Vizianagaram district, were travelling from Hyderabad to their native place.
23-year-old K Swathi Reddy, from Narasaraopeta, was also travelling by the same train.
“I was in a deep sleep when a person woke me up at around 4.30 am. He told me that his pregnant wife was suffering from labour pain and requested me whether I could extend any help but he wasn’t aware that I was a medico,” Swathi Reddy told Hindustan Times.
Realising the gravity of the situation, the medico (Swathi Reddy) swung into action and converted the bogey into a makeshift labour room with the help of other women passengers.
“I had no surgical instruments with me; and not even gloves to perform the delivery. Luckily, I was carrying a bottle of Betadine surgical solution with which I could sterilise my hands. With whatever little experience I had gained during my studies, I ensured that Satyavathi delivered the baby girl without any hassle,” she said.
However, the medico could not cut the umbilical cord or clamp it. “There was not even warm water to clean the baby or keep the baby in a warm condition as it was an air-conditioned compartment. All that I could do was to wrap the baby in three or four warm clothes,” she said.
Besides helping the woman in delivery, the medico took the help of the travelling ticket examiner (TTE) of the Duronto Express and conveyed a message to station master Venkateshwara Rao of Anakapalle railway station. Though there was no halt at the Anakapalle railway station, the TTE made the train to have a brief halt at the station.
The medico said, “Before the train halted, the railway authorities arranged for an ambulance to shift the woman and the child to the nearby hospital. But I did not want to leave them and accompanied them to the ‘NTR Government Hospital’, where gynaecologist ‘Dr Anuradha’ treated them.”
She also added that she stayed in the hospital until the infant and the mother got all the necessary medical assistance before leaving for Visakhapatnam.
Satyanarayana immensely thanked Swathi Reddy (the medico) for her timely help.
Check the reactions of the Twitter users to this incident below:
May Allah bless her, may all her dreams come true, humanity is the best thing in the world
— Aejas (@aejaspasha88) September 14, 2022
A user even wondered that why were the couple travelling when the lady was in such a crucial period of her pregnancy?
Great that she was present at the right time. But why are they travelling when they are expecting a baby..
— Srikanth M♂️⚡️ (@yourssrilu) September 14, 2022
Doctor
You have done your job pic.twitter.com/fQxYF7nPcy
— Asst. Director (Veterinary), Khairatabad Zone (@advet_kbzghmc) September 14, 2022
Humanity personified..
— Vishala Thandra (@ThandraVishala) September 14, 2022
Service to humanity is service to God in true sense
— Irfan Khan (@IrfanKhanhyd) September 13, 2022
