Inspiring Doctors: Flood,no power or blood but surgeries went as planned
September 6, 2014 isn’t a day many in Kashmir are bound to forget easily. The day when they woke up to one of the biggest floods of the century. During the time, Dr. Shahnaaz Teing was working at the valley’s sole maternity hospital in Lal Ded. Due to the flood, she got stuck in the hospital with hundreds of patients and their attendants.
The water level-which reached up to 15 feet had the ground floor submerged. This made the electricity supply room, the canteen and the blood bank defunct. With the entire hospital in darkness, mayhem erupted.
A woman has been admitted for delivery of her third child. The woman, who had a low-lying placenta bled profusely and needed immediate surgery. However, for the Caesarian section to be performed, the doctor needed electricity. Also, she needed a minimum of seven units of blood and dressing material, none of which was available.
“I had two options: one, to take a risk and operate and second, watch her die. I went with the first one,” says the doctor.
The woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She didn’t bleed much either. The successful delivery gave the doctor the confidence to take on more deliveries. Dr Tieng went on to perform six deliveries by candlelight.
With the flood doctors, patients and attendants all comforted each other and ate from the same plate. “There was no distinction of any kind – we were all local Kashmiris desperate for another chance at life” says Dr. Teing.
Later, when rescuers moved her out of the hospital, she thought about who was going to treat the expectant mothers in her absence.
That person turned out to be Dr Nazeera Farooq who single-handedly operated on 75 women that day. The doctor’s Safa Marwa Hospital not only provided free medical service to patients but also gave food and shelter to their attendants.
When the number of critical patients was at the highest, 80 percent of her staff had left the hospital. But the doctor wasn’t to be deterred. “As there was no power, I used my diesel generator to conduct surgeries. When the diesel ran out, I operated in torchlight,” she said.
Image credits: thebetterindia.com