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Medico helps woman deliver baby on train in Andhra
K Swathi Reddy, who has completed her final year of MBBS and is a house surgeon at Gandhi Institute of Techology And Management (GITAM) Medical College, Viskakhapatnam, boarded the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Duronto Superfast Express, at Vijayawada.
Timely assistance from a medico helped a woman deliver a baby aboard a running train in Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalle district on Tuesday.
K Swathi Reddy, who has completed her final year of MBBS and is a house surgeon at Gandhi Institute of Techology And Management (GITAM) Medical College, Viskakhapatnam, boarded the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Duronto Superfast Express, at Vijayawada.
“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 labour pains and requested me whether I could extend any help. He didn’t know that I was a medico, as he was requesting other women in the compartment to come to his wife’s rescue,” Swathi Reddy told Hindustan Times.
The couple Satyanarayana and Satyavathi from Ponnam village of Cheepurupalli block in Vizianagaram district, were travelling from Hyderabad to their native place.
The couple had no chance to get down in any major railway station so that she could be rushed to a hospital for delivery, as the express train which had already crossed Rajamahendravaram had no further halts till Visakhapatnam.
Satyanarayana was requesting the co-passengers to come his wife’s rescue, but nobody could help him. Realising the gravity of the situation, 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 deliver the baby girl without any hassle,” she said.
However, Swathi Reddy 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, Swathi Reddy took the help of 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 station, the TTE ensured that the train had a brief halt there. “By time the train came to a halt, the railway authorities arranged an ambulance to shift the woman and the child to the nearby hospital. But I did not want to leave them at that. So, I accompanied them to the NTR government hospital, where gynaecologist Dr Anuradha treated them,” Swathi Reddy said.
She stayed back in the hospital till the infant and the mother got the required medical assistance before leaving for Visakhapatnam by bus. Satyanarayana profusely thanked the medico for her timely help.
