Team of doctors at KRIMS Hospital

A 32-year-old woman from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, was rushed to KRIMS Hospital in Nagpur after severe headache, tingling in limbs, paralysis in lower legs and generalised weakness.

Post delivery, the woman started facing COVID-19 complications by having difficulty in breathing, speaking and severe weakness.

She was immediately shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where she received Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) because of Bradycardia and sudden respiratory arrest.

Because of complete respiratory failure, she was put on ventilator support. Neurologist, Dr Anand Somkuwar, who clinically suspected a rare syndrome – Guillian Barre Syndrome ? as the cause of her weakness and respiratory failure, examined her.

She underwent emergency tracheostomy, as she was not maintaining oxygen saturation along with ventilatory support.

Simultaneously she was also found to be suffering from left-sided pneumonia. She was treated with Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IV Ig) for five days.

Dr Sameer Arbat (Interventional Pulmonologist), who was leading the COVID-19 team at KRIMS Hospital, treated her for the respiratory failure. She was gradually weaned-off from the ventilator after 28 days under due care of neurologist. After seven days, she was discharged from the hospital only after she was able to stand with some support and could move her upper limbs completely.

Dr Arbat said, Patients of COVID-19 requiring Ventilatory Support fall into severe category. Any complications related to COVID-19 in pregnancy are a big challenge for all the doctors. Our team attended this case during the peak of September when there were no beds available for COVID-19 patients in the city. I believe that Dr Anand and Dr Dipti played a crucial role by attending to this COVID-19 case at a time when it was difficult to find a specialist.

He added, I used to personally sit next to the patient and encourage her to stay positive so that she could finally get to meet her new born whom she had not seen since delivery. Out team was overburdened with the total number of COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospital. We were at a high risk of infection too. It was 30 days of rigorous efforts put in by three specialties of Pulmonology, Obstetrics and Neurology that this patient could come out healthy ? from such a complicated clinical situation.

Team of doctors who were involved in the treatment of the woman:

1. Dr Sameer Arbat, Interventional Pulmonologist leading the COVID-19 team

2. Dr Parimal Deshpande, Pulmonologist

3. Dr Swapnil Bakamwar, Pulmonologist

4. Dr Dipti Shende, Obstetrician

5. Dr Anand Somkuwar, Neurologist

6. Dr Prajakta Borkar, Physiotherapist

7. Dr Siddharth Saoji, ENT Surgeon

8. Dr Rohini Dharmadhikari

9. Dr Renu Gulati

10. Dr Shabnam Khan

11. Nursing and assisting Staff