A make-shift device that can be conjured in minutes has been saving the lives of several women after their deliveries, learnt young postgraduate students of medicine during a day-long session on addressing emergencies at the Gandhi Medical College on Sunday.
The device, a condom mounted on a catheter, has been crucial in saving lives, H. Anupama, head of the Gynaecology Department at Gandhi Hospital, told postgraduate students and faculty of five government hospitals who attended the session.
Dr. Anupama said the contraceptive, when inflated, fills up the uterus and arrests bleeding by constricting blood vessels.
“We used it recently to stop a woman’s bleeding, who had given birth naturally. It saved her life,” she said, adding that an improvised version called the ‘Chhattisgarh Balloon’ is available, and could be made available to other States by the Government of India.
The State’s hospitals, mainly Gandhi Hospital and Niloufer Hospital, have been in the news for maternal deaths.
Five women succumbed following C-section deliveries at Niloufer Hospital last month.
Two other women succumbed at Gandhi Hospital last week.
A detailed inquiry into the deaths is under way under the supervision of Hyderabad Collector Rahul Bojja.
Maternal ICUs
Director of Medical Education M. Ramani said the session was held to convey various aspects of dealing with emergencies. “From guidelines to be followed for transporting patients to communicating the bad news to families, many things were discussed,” she said. The State government announced that it would set up maternal Intensive Care Units in all State hospitals to lower maternal deaths. However, staff across all hospitals wonder whether it can hire adequate people to man the ICUs, given the shortage of staff at all hospitals.
