E-Paper
Bengaluru dentist helps save migrant labourer, newborn
The couple from Odisha, who worked at construction sites on the city’s outskirts, had trudged for about seven kilometers when Shanti collapsed in front of a dental clinic.
When Shanti went into labour on April 14, she and her husband desperately began to walk in search of a hospital in Bengaluru. The couple from Odisha, who worked at construction sites on the city’s outskirts, had trudged for about seven kilometers when Shanti collapsed in front of a dental clinic.
An employee at the clinic noticed Shanti and immediately called Ramya Himanish, a dentist who runs it and stays nearby. Shanti delivered a baby boy before the dentist could help them reach the nearest hospital. The dentist in between ensured Shanti’s bleeding stopped and the boy, who was presumed dead, was cleaned to help him breathe properly.
“They [the couple] could not speak Kannada nor Hindi or English and from whatever little I could understand, they spoke some tribal dialect. The couple is very young, aged between 18-20. The woman, whose name I came to know eventually as Shanti, was too frail and in great pain. When I inquired, all we could understand was that they had no work for nearly a month and had not eaten for a day,” said Himanish.
Even before she could get further details, Shanti collapsed next to the clinic and began bleeding heavily after delivering. Himanish said her first priority was to save her even as the baby was not moving and the husband assumed he was dead and wrapped him up in newspaper. She used dental sutures at her clinic to stop Shanti’s bleeding as she shifted her to a portion of her clinic where she could get privacy behind curtains. “...mine is a dental clinic with no paraphernalia of regular maternity hospitals. Once the condition of the mother stabilised, Himanish turned her attention to the child wrapped up in the newspaper. She realised it was a baby boy and his heart was beating, though it was faint. So she used whatever equipment available to clean the nose and mouth of the child to help him breathe freely.
Mud and the birth fluid were hindering the baby from breathing. The moment the baby was cleaned up, he began to breathe and cry. “Shanti had woken up by then and I asked her to feed the child. All of us were in a shock till then and it was then I asked them whether they wanted to be shifted to the nearest hospital. But since, it is a large multi-speciality private hospital, the husband was afraid they would ask money. So, we called the government K C General Hospital and eventually an ambulance came and shifted them there.”
Himanish said the husband had till then refused to talk to her or answer her questions. “I assume he was afraid that we would ask for money which is why he did not speak at all then and maybe also the shock that he thought that the child was dead. Also, he himself is very young, not more than 20-21.”
A day later, the husband, who refused to disclose his name, called Himanish from the K C General Hospital. He could not clearly communicate as he knew none of the languages Himanish spoke. The dentist understood he wanted to thank her and say the child and mother were all right. “In all my 18 years as a dentist, I have never had such an experience. While it was very tense when the whole thing took place, I am happy that everything turned out well though I do not know how this has come to the notice of the media,” said Himanish.
Attempts to get details of the couple from K C General Hospital were unsuccessful. The hospital said it does not disclose details of any of its patients.
