Normally, when a woman is in labour and is admitted to hospital, the staff rightaway make all the necessary arrangements to see that she has a safe and sound delivery.

But these are coronavirus times, and hospitals are on hyper alert and go into top gear in such cases, as happened with Syeda Fariya, who was COVID-19 positive. She was suffering from preeclampsia and high blood pressure and was admitted to Zulekha Hospital Dubai.

The family and Dr. Bushra Gul, Specialist Obstetrics & Gynaecology, had a Caesarean section planned, but she headed to the hospital when she didn’t feel very well before her delivery date.

On her arrival, hospital staff examined her and determined that contractions had started and the foetus was in distress and had to be delivered immediately as an emergency C-section.

Dr. Gul said, “Before Syeda’s arrival at Zulekha Hospital, Dubai, the medical team put a plan in place for her care, which included a separate route for her so that she did not mix with other patients and expose them to the infection.

Staff were assigned specific roles in the plan for the patient’s care and everyone knew what they had to do before she even arrived at the hospital. No time was wasted; she was examined immediately on arrival. It turned out the foetus was in distress and he had to be delivered immediately via Caesarean section.”

The medical team wasted no time, and did their best to care for the mom and her baby.

Although the mother was COVID-19 positive, she shared that the doctors, nurses and staff at Zulekha Hospital did not hesitate to do their best for her and her baby, she did not feel any discrimination, nor was her care delayed for any reason.

Her case was time-critical, and the clinical team was up to the challenge.

The Anaesthesia Specialist, Dr. Sarwesh Kumar, and the operation theatre team set to work immediately, preparing the patient for the operation.

Within another hour, the baby was delivered safely by Dr. Bushra Gul. The operation was carried out with full COVID-19 precautions in place.

The baby needed support in his early days and was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) under the care of Dr. Deepu Abraham, Consultant, Neonatology and Paediatric and his team.

The baby was later released in good health. Syeda is very happy with her experience at Zulekha Hospital Dubai, and says, “Me and my baby were blessed to receive the care we needed from a competent team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff who did their utmost to take care of us in our critical situation I did not feel any discrimination or substandard treatment for being COVID-19 positive, instead the hospital team did not hesitate to take all the necessary steps to take care of us, particularly that my case was time-critical."

Nevertheless, all safety precautions were taken to protect the hospital team and other patients from exposure to COVID-19.