TIRUCHY: A pall of gloom descended on the H1N1 ward at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) where a nine-month-pregnant woman lost her unborn baby on Tuesday and is battling for survival.
According to sources, Dheepa, 25-yr-old wife of Karuppusamy of Nagapattinam, would have delivered a baby in two-weeks had the dreaded disease been diagnosed on time. Sources said Dheepa contracted fever and developed respiratory issues and she was treated in a hospital in Nagapattinam.
“This is her second pregnancy and she was in her ninth month. With 20 days to go for the delivery, Dheepa developed complications like low blood pressure, high fever and respiratory issues. So we took her to a private hospital where she was receiving pregnancy care four days ago. But her condition worsened and did not respond to treatment,” said Rasu Thevar, Dheepa’s father. Subsequently, the doctor referred her to a private hospital in Tiruchy on Monday. However, on seeing the condition and suspecting that she might have contracted swine flu, the hospital referred her to MGMGH on Monday.
MGMGH sources said their diagnosis revealed that she had been infected by H1N1 and that the baby was dead before she arrived at the hospital. Following this, they removed the foetus on Tuesday. “As of now, her condition is very sick. However, she is not on ventilator and her recovery will be known after two days,” said Dr Anitha, Head, Department, Medicines Department, MGMGH.