Woman’s C-section cancelled due to coronavirus fear

Doctors discovered she was displaying symptoms of COVID-19 after shifting her to operation theatre

HYDERABAD: The caesarean delivery of a woman who had already been taken to the operation theatre was cancelled in Larkana on Thursday after her gynaecologist and surgical team discovered she was displaying symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

“The woman had a high fever and she was also coughing, because of which the doctors said she should first be tested for the virus,” hospital medical officer Dr Abdul Qayum Memon told the local media.



He explained that the 38-year-old woman, who belonged to Qambar Shahdadkot district, had been admitted at the hospital for a caesarean section. The doctors discovered the symptoms only after shifting her to the operation theatre for surgery, he maintained.

According to Memon, the main reason for the medical team’s hesitation was that they were not equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE). “Without PPE, the gynaecologist and her team felt exposed to asymptomatic patient,” he stated.



Meanwhile, another medical officer at the hospital, Dr Amjad Bijarani, stated that doctors have continued to perform their duties at the hospital despite not being provided PPE kits. He added that the caesarean sections of other patients were still being carried out.

District health officer Syed Athar Shah, on being informed about the incident, told the hospital that a team of technicians would be dispatched to collect the woman’s sample for testing.