Corona instils fear of babies’ safety in new mothers
LUCKNOW: Motherhood changes the life of every woman and holding baby in lap gives her immense joy. However, Covid-19 pandemic has filled new mothers with a sense of fear for their babies. Shubra Sen, a 30-year-old banker who became a mother on Saturday, is anxious about her baby boy who is healthy and fine though.
“I cant think of anything except protecting him from Covid-19,” she said as she lay with her son in maternity ward of Veerangana Jhalkari Bai Women and Child Hospital, Lucknow. A bottle of liquid hand sanitiser is kept beside her pillow. Asima Khatun, 22, another new mother who gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Friday, has asked her husband to not bring any family member close to her child. Khatun, who had to abandon studies after class 10, knows the importance of social distancing for checking spread of Sars-Cov-2 virus.
“I ask anyone who visits me to maintain a distance. I have not allowed anyone to touch my baby,” she said.
Even hospital administration known for its maternity care has brought in radical changes in its daily functioning. The hospital is admitting only critical patients or those in labour. Routine outpatient department services have been suspended and screening of everyone entering the hospital premises has been made mandatory. Besides, the number of visitors has also been restricted in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is the first time in many years when we are not celebrating the Mother’s Day (celebrated on second Sunday of May every year) here. We have limited the patients yet we are burdened with critical cases which are not being taken by other hospitals,” said hospital’s chief medical superintendent Sudha Verma.
She also talked about the concerns of women who have become mothers during the ongoing lockdown. “They express their concern about having a child during the pandemic and other aspects related to it. We try our best to advise and inform them about Covid-19 to allay their fears,” the CMS added as she glanced at the crowd gathering on the hospital gate. Waiting outside the hospital to get his wife admitted, one Dinesh Rawat spoke about the difficulties the couple faced in the last few days. “We were having our follow-up test at a private hospital which refused to admit my wife for delivery so we rushed here,” he said.
Rawat went to three private hospitals and two government hospitals with her pregnant wife before arriving to Jhalkari Bai hospital. “I never thought it would be so difficult to get my wife admitted for delivery. The last two days have been very stressful,” he said. Several other patients also faced similar problems. “A private hospital asked us to get a Covid-19 test done before admission. I ran for two days to get the test done but to no avail and eventually came here,” said one Arun Kumar.
The situation is particularly difficult in rural pockets. Couples who have become parents recently in many villages complained that they were not either admitted to government-run community health centres or were overcharged by private hospitals. Moreover, happiness was quite visible on a few faces who had just become fathers.
“I am very happy but it is very difficult to control my feelings for my newborn baby as I can’t hold it in my arms due to corona pandemic,” said one Dinesh Singh who longed to see his firstborn.