Frontliner Shares How Pregnant Patient Had To Undergo Emergency Delivery Due To COVID-19

Frontliner urges Malaysians to be considerate

Frontliners have been working tirelessly since the start of the pandemic, as the virus drove up hospitalisations nationwide. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in recent days, it’s no surprise that they have to continue stepping up their efforts and face considerable pressure.

In a call for Malaysians to do their part in the fight against COVID-19, a frontliner shared her frustrations after encountering a pregnant patient whom her team of medical staff had to work tirelessly at 4AM to monitor. This was because the patient had tested positive for COVID-19 after travelling during Hari Raya, potentially putting her baby in harm’s way.

Shift had to extended for emergency C-section

On 25th May 2021, Tash Karan took to her Facebook page to share the story of the pregnant patient.

She started off the lengthy Facebook post by saying that she was feeling frustrated and drained. The caption was accompanied by a photo at 4AM of her waiting for the patient’s baby to be delivered.

According to the post, she and her team had worked tirelessly the day before to treat ill babies. But they had to extend their shift and be on standby for a pregnant patient who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Image credit: Tash Karan

Tash explained why she was feeling frustrated. She shared that paediatric teams usually avoid C-section operations during the early hours of the day because there is a typically less hands on deck to help with procedures – a team of 10-15 doctors and staff need to be present for such procedures.

She also shared that emergency C-sections that do take place during these hours are only carried out if the mother or baby is in distress or unwell.

But an emergency C-section was called for the patient at 4AM because she was classified as a “probable COVID-19 patient“.

Her COVID-19 RTK screening results was said to have come back positive.

The patient had admitted to travelling to visit family members during the Hari Raya period, despite them feeling unwell. She also hosted guests when she was feeling under the weather too.

Frontliner urges all to be considerate following pregnant patient story

Tash shared her disappointment at learning that the mother did not take into account her unborn baby when she had breached SOPs. She also lamented how the patient’s delivery experience will be affected, including having her baby be potentially isolated and having to undergo COVID-19 swab tests mere moments after delivery.

Snippet of Tash’s post
Image credit: Tash Karan

The strain on frontliners and amount of resources used to facilitate pregnant mothers with COVID-19 giving birth was also disregarded, which Tash cited as being “demotivating” and “tiring”.

As such, Tash urged Malaysians to do their part in the fight against COVID-19 by being considerate and aware of the current COVID-19 situation. If not, she said that frontliners may fail, as they cannot fight the pandemic on their own.

Frontliner calls on Malaysians to be considerate after pregnant patient ordeal

Frontliners have become the backbone of the fight against COVID-19, with plenty of photos as proof of their hard work. With cases yet to see a decline in Malaysia, we are called upon to stay safe and only be out for necessities so we can help stop the spread of COVID-19, which will be, no doubt, of much relief to our frontliners at this time.