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Home > Mumbai > Mumbai News > Article > Karjat quintuplets die for want of oxygen

Karjat quintuplets die for want of oxygen

Updated on: 24 July,2011 07:31 AM IST  | 
Alifiya Khan |

Daily wage labourer Ram Shinde and wife Sarita, who became parents of five children on July 20 after a 7-year wait, lost their quintuplets while taking them to a hospital equipped with ventilators. Abysmal healthcare infrastructure, lack of a ready ambulance, a missing driver, and bad roads killed their newborns

Karjat quintuplets die for want of oxygen

Daily wage labourer Ram Shinde and wife Sarita, who became parents of five children on July 20 after a 7-year wait, lost their quintuplets while taking them to a hospital equipped with ventilators. Abysmal healthcare infrastructure, lack of a ready ambulance, a missing driver, and bad roads killed their newborns

Saturday dawned like any other day in Karjat taluka, Nagar Zila, in the news last week for a medical miracle performed by a local doctor. Sarita Shinde, the 23 year-old wife of construction labourer Ram Shine (26), gave birth to quintuplets -- four girls and a boy -- at the Suman Maternity and General Hospital.


Sarita Shinde gave birth to quintupletsu00a0-- four girls and a boyu00a0-- at Suman
Maternity and General Hospital in Karjat taluka, 130 km from Pune.
Pics/Digvijaysabne


Dr Nitin Salve performed a caesarean section operation on July 20, a few days after Sarita completed seven months of pregnancy. Salve had asked Shinde to take her to a bigger government-run hospital in Ahmednagar or Baramati, both 70-odd kms away, but Shinde refused, since he was unable to afford hiring a car.

As a daily wager, his Rs 150 a day salary is docked for every day he misses work. However, the operation was successful and the couple became proud parents of five babies that weighed between 700g to 1.2 kg. Salve told them the babies were relatively stable, but needed to be kept on ventilators since their lungs were weak due to premature birth.

Shinde sold his wife's mangalsutra -- the only piece of jewellery they possessed -- and hired a jeep on July 22 to transport the children to Baramati's Mutha Hospital, 70 km away, for Rs 2,500. The ride proved fatal. Potholed roads, an exposed and unhygienic vehicle and lack of oxygen resulted in the death of two babies en route the two-hour ride, while the other three died within hours of reaching the hospital.

Only one ambulance, which has the facility to provide oxygen, is assigned to the government hospital at Karjat taluka -- for a population of 35,000 -- and even that was not available that day. "Dr Dayanand Pawar, the medical officer of the rural hospital is an anaesthetist, who was present at time of the caesarean.

When we asked him to arrange for the ambulance, he said precious time would be lost in locating the driver and completing the formalities. The ambulance is usually given to patients who go to the rural hospital. We had no choice but to hire a jeep," said Salve.

The rural hospital is 1.5 km from where Shinde stays, but it's not equipped with ventilators either. Pawar agreed that the ambulance was usually provided to patients of the hospital alone. "What if we have an emergency at the same time?" he offered by way of explanation, when asked why the ambulance was not made available to take Sarita to the better-equipped Baramati hospital.

On Saturday, Sunday MiD DAY visited Shinde, who returned to work a day after the tragic incident. "We're so poor, there aren't even enough clothes to steal. We own nothing of value except sacks of wheat leftover from last year's crop," said Shinde, who met this reporter just as he was mounting his cycle outside his one room hutment to leave for work.

Shinde's house has no toilet or furniture, and he felt no need to lock the door.u00a0 Sarita is still admitted at Suman Maternity and General Hospital, and medical expenses are mounting for Shinde, who has already lost Rs 450 on account of missing three days of work.

"Sarita and I got married seven years ago. We had been trying for a baby since then, but she hadn't been able to conceive. Dr Salvi agreed to treat her free of cost. When we heard the news of her pregnancy earlier this year, our joy knew no bounds. Other villagers had treated her like an untouchable for years. They made her sit away from other women. This was her chance to gain some respect," said Shinde.

A sonography at the end of Sarita's first trimester had revealed that she was carrying quintuplets. "My first thought was how would I feed so many mouths? I am the only earning member in our family of four (which includes Shinde's aged parents)," said Shinde.

u00a0Salve advised Shinde to visit the BJ Medical College in Pune, 130 kms away, for a medical procedure known as selective foetal reduction, which reduces the number of foetuses in high-risk pregnancies. The procedure helps improve the chances of survival for both, mother and child.

Shinde, who couldn't afford to travel to Pune, refused.u00a0He asked Salve to continue his wife's treatment at the Suman Maternity and General Hospital, that is not only unequipped to carry out the medical procedure, but also devoid of ventilators required for premature babies.

On July 20, Sarita delivered five healthy babies -- a piece of news that brought a smile to many around the country, as it was reported in the next day's papers. But the infants, like all premature kids, needed ventilator support, prompting Salve to advise Shinde to transfer the quintuplets to the private hospital in Baramati.
"The babies weighed less at birth, so they needed immediate ventilation. Though Shinde wanted me to keep the babies at my hospital, I arranged for a jeep to shift the children to the nearest hospital in Baramati where ventilators are available," said Salve.

Paediatrician Dr Rajendra Mutha said, "When the babies arrived, two were dead as their lungs were undeveloped. They needed oxygen and no ventilator was available in their taluka. Nor was it possible for us to send this equipment there. We tried our best but couldn't save two babies. One girl survived for a day, but her relatives insisted that she be discharged."

The baby died on her way home. Local chemist Sudam Dalvi said many people from the village have died in transit to a bigger hospital. "The nearest well equipped hospitals are in Baramati or Ahmednagar, 80 km away. There are no ambulances, and people usually hire cars or jeeps," he said.

"There is no drinking water in this taluka and you are asking for an ICU or ambulance?" said Janardan Sonavne, a local library owner. "Basic expenses of medicines and surgery come to Rs 10,000," said Shinde. "I have a barren land in my name that I can't cultivate since there's no water in this area."

Shinde's employer, an engineer who takes on local construction projects, has agreed to take on some of the costs, but he said he would deduct the amount from Shinde's wages.u00a0Meanwhile, Sarita, who is still recuperating, is unaware that she has lost all her children




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