Omicron fails to deter maternity care in Telangana

Hyderabad: Despite the surge of Omicron-driven Covid third wave, the government maternity hospitals across Telangana State have managed to offer non-stop Mother and Child Health (MCH) services. In the month of January, the top tertiary maternity hospitals in Hyderabad including Petlaburj, Sultan Bazaar and Niloufer have conducted normal deliveries, C-sections and offer consultations to pregnant […]

Hyderabad: Despite the surge of Omicron-driven Covid third wave, the government maternity hospitals across Telangana State have managed to offer non-stop Mother and Child Health (MCH) services.

In the month of January, the top tertiary maternity hospitals in Hyderabad including Petlaburj, Sultan Bazaar and Niloufer have conducted normal deliveries, C-sections and offer consultations to pregnant women, although there was a high level of Covid infections among the healthcare workers.

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Reports from district MCH centres in Telangana also indicate that almost all the deliveries have continued to be taken up normally, despite the shadow of the pandemic. The non-severe nature of the Omicron has gone a long way in ensuring vital deliveries and other minor elective surgeries were taken up on time.

2,500 pregnacies a month
On an average, every month, the maternity hospitals at Petlaburj and Sultan Bazaar conduct anywhere between 2,000 and 2,500 handle pregnancies each. “There was no postponement of deliveries or C-section surgeries. We conducted over 2,000 pregnancies in the month of January, which is quite normal. However, the transmissibility of the Omicron variant is fast and many healthcare workers in our hospital had tested positive,” says Superintendent, Petlaburj Maternity Hospital, Dr Naga Mani.

The less severity of Omicron variant helped, doctors said. “In terms of severity of Covid-19, compared to last year’s Delta wave, this year, we have been very fortunate. There are Covid infections but all the symptoms are mild infections and almost everybody was recovering after a seven-day isolation period. As a result, we definitely were successful in managing the workflow better during the third wave,” said Head, Paediatrics, Niloufer Hospital, Dr T Usha Rani.

To ensure there was no break in the quality of the healthcare services and also infection rates, earlier this month, the State government had decided to establish separate Obstetrics and Gyneacology (OBS) wards for Covid positive pregnant women. As a result, there was no breakdown of healthcare services, despite Covid infections.

“During the earlier waves of Covid, separate wards were created in all maternity hospitals and OBG departments in attached teaching hospitals for managing Covid positive obstetric cases. In view of the surge in the Covid due to Omicron, we realised that there was a need to quickly establish such wards ready to treat these cases in the respective institutes,” Dr Ramesh Reddy said.

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