A life saved…

For Mahadev Satpute visiting a tribal village of Gathanyeli in Gadchiroli was a general supervisorial job. On reaching the village, Dudhram Parse, a Community Health Worker (CHW) told them of a family who according to their prevailing tribal practices had placed the mother and the baby in a sepa-rate dark hut, and none of the outside people including the SEARCH CHW or the ASHA were allowed to see them. They at once rushed to the house.

The infant was 8 days old weighing 1.6kgs and was suffering from severe sepsis, showing 5 signs – fast breathing, hypothermia, low birth weight, lethargy and breastfeed refusal. The mother, on the other hand, didn‟t know how to breastfeed. Mahadev showed a flipchart on the positioning and meth-ods of feeding the baby. The mother was advised to start immediately, minimum 8 times a day. The CHW, adminis-tered cotrimoxazole and sent for an ambulance to bring the child to Maa Danteshwari Hospital, SEARCH.

The child now is out of danger and slowly gaining weight. The breath count now is 42, which earlier was 61 and its temperature is back to normal from 95.