KOLKATA: Doctors from various departments at Woodlands Hospital united during the Durga Puja celebrations to give a new lease on life to a little Durga. Born with a life-threatening gut anomaly called “intestinal malrotation” causing her to throw up green bile with every feeding, the four-day-old underwent a surgery just as the city was bustling in their finest festive attire.
The first child of young couple Marjina Khatun and Mohd Monirul Islam, originally from Murshidabad, was born on October 5. “At first, she seemed like a normal baby. We had never imagined that there was such a serious health issue lurking somewhere,” said Marjina, an official of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
The little girl has recovered well post-surgery — Ladd’s Procedure — and is now able to tolerate food. She has been christened Maanvi, a beaming Monirul, a chemistry teacher, while taking the newborn back home recently.
The young parents were devastated when their bundle of joy was detected with an altered relationship of the superior mesenteric artery and superior mesenteric vein, a condition in which the baby’s intestine was twisted, preventing feed passing through the food pipe.
“USG confirmed what we had suspected, intestinal malrotation. Surgeries done on newborns are always critical. We also removed the appendix of as it was positioned in the epigastric region,” said Dr Aneek Roy Chowdhury, consultant, paediatric surgery, Woodlands Hospital.
Roy Chowdhury had multiple discussions with Dr Soumitro Bhattacharya, the chief or radio diagnosis.
A major challenge was administering anaesthesia to a four-day-old baby. This challenge was dealt with by Dr Udayan Bakshi, the head of anaesthetics and Dr Shreya Lahiri from his team. The critical post operative care in NICU for ten days saw paediatricians Dr Pulak Kole and Dr Sabyasachi Das monitor the baby closely.
“Our commitment to compassionate care and teamwork drives us to provide the best possible outcomes for our patients. The quick detection of her condition and the corrective steps taken highlight the benefits of deliveries in a multispeciality set-ups with NICU and highly skilled doctors,” said Rupak Barua, managing director & CEO, Woodlands.
“Many of us cut short our Puja plans to attend to little Maanvi, but seeing her recovery and the smiles on her parents’ faces is more than enough compensation,” said one of the treating doctors.