Tour of MGIMS

   

We spotted some Laerdal posters!

August 9th: After getting a full night's sleep to recover from jetlag, we got up nice and early to begin our tour of the facilities at MGIMS. Our first stop was to the Labor Ward to meet up with Dr. Poonam Shivkumar, head of the OBGYN department. We chatted with her in her office about the background of the MGIMS facility and she gave us a taste of what sorts of practices the hospital followed. One of the most interesting things she told us about was the Aakanksha, or the adoption center that was part of the hospital. Unwanted babies, for reasons varying from rape to premarital sex, are delivered at the hospital and put up for adoption for couples who are unable to conceive. The women who give up their babies are also taught income generating skills, such as sewing, to help empower them.

  

One (of many innovations) at the hospital is to hang

IV drips from a ceiling line (as you can see on the left)

when there aren't enough IV poles for every patient.

Afterwards, we took a walking tour of the facility, starting with the OB department. The department is set up with different rooms for different conditions that pregnant women present with. There's a Heart Disease room, a Post Eclampsia room, a Day Care room (not for taking care of children but for monitoring patients over a 24 hour period), an Observation room (for women in the first stage of labor), a Labor room. The entire hallway is broken down by condition or stage of pregnancy to help with workflow. The patients are also segregated based on whether or not they have sepsis.

The neonatal resuscitation unit in the labor ward.

Next we went to the newly constructed surgical unit. This area had a much more open floor plan but still felt crowded from the masses of patients and relatives that were walking around. Dr. Shivkumar mentioned that one of the most tiring parts of her job was talking to all the relatives who came to visit a single and keeping them up to date on the patients condition.

Nikki and Kimber went to the OT (which stands for Operating Theater) to observe some procedures and David and I headed back to the guest house for a well deserved lunch and nap.