Doctor team at Indiana Hospital saves identical quadruplets

Doctor team at Indiana Hospital saves identical quadruplets

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Apr 3, 2012: A team of highly qualified doctors and medical personnel, under the leadership of Dr. Ali Kumble, saved four babies born to the same woman (quadruplets) at Indiana Hospital in Mangalore. 

The lucky parents are Latheef and Aysha Tahira of Kasargod, who got blessed with 4 babies after years of childlessness. When Aysha delivered four babies prematurely, doctors were unsure if they would survive as the survival rate of quadruplets was one in 70 lakh. Besides, the babies needed to be put on life saving support in a highly sophisticated care centre, which was a very expensive process. 

Dr. Yusuf Kumble told reporters that the babies were admitted to the NICU of Indiana Hospital on March 11 and a team of doctors under the leadership of Dr. Ali Kumble took charge of them. The hospital management bore the costs as the father was unable to pay the bills. The doctors, who were determined to save all the four babies, ultimately succeeded after one month’s hard work and dedication. 

Dr. Kumble said that this case is more fascinating than ever because these four babies are identical quadruplets, something that happens only once in 13 million births. He also informed that there are only 60 such recorded cases in the world and such babies hardly survive into infancy if they are born at 26 weeks of pregnancy and weigh only 500 – 900gms. 

Speaking about the risks of multiple pregnancies, he said that these are high risk pregnancies, which are associated with neonatal mortality and morbidity. He also said that such births have gone up during the past 20 years because of the use of reproductive techniques for infertile couples.  

Revealing further details about the case, Dr. Kumble said that the average gestation period in case of quadruplets was only 31.2 weeks and the average weight is 1.362 per baby. In Aysha’s case, the period of gestation was only 26 weeks and the weight of each baby is 900gms for the first two babies and 580gms for the next two babies, their average weight being 740gms, which makes them the first preterm identical quadruplet birth recorded in India. 

Speaking on the challenges faced in helping these babies to survive, the doctor said that the team had to ensure that they maintained a normal breathing pattern and tolerated the food given to them.

Besides, hygiene and sanitation had to be maintained to avoid sepsis, owing to which the babies were handled only by nurses trained especially for this job. 

The doctor also said that the babies were fed with only mother’s milk and that they are now four weeks old.