Column

Hers is a case which reminds me of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, where the poet says “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I... I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Thirty years ago, when Dr Armida Fernandez took charge as head of department of the neonatology ward of Mumbai’s Sion Hospital, the guiding words were etched on her mind “I will make a difference.”

Due to the hospital’s proximity to Dharavi, it saw a large share of poor patients coming in every day, compared to other civic hospitals. Sick babies who were less than a month old and those prematurely born in need of critical medical care, were admitted to the paediatric ward. What stunned Dr Armida was that 77 of 100 such babies never lived to see their second month. Hygiene was the prime suspect. Spurred by the streak to make a difference, she decided, in a first, to shift the wash basins, which were hitherto outside, inside the ward so that everyone coming in would wash their hands right in front of her. But things weren’t going to be easy.

Hospital engineers were the first to dissuade her, given as they were to a lethargic grind. But our lady stuck to her guns. Once the hygiene banner was established, taming infection was her next target, as she found it to be elemental to spiralling mortality. Since there was a shortage of nurses, she decided to train mothers on the nitty-gritty of child care. No milk from outside would be allowed, she proclaimed. From then on, only breast-milk would be entertained.

Also, needles were sterilised and all equipment autoclaved and boiled at high temperatures. Alas, the mortality rate stuck at 77 %. “There is something I am missing out on,” Dr Armida knew for sure. The hunt for that ‘something’ continued.

The mystery eventually unravelled. The old and filthy incubators, largely donated by various people, were the real villains. Doing away with them was a daunting proposition and her resolve to do so met with stiff opposition. But there was no budging her. She discarded all incubators and in their place, used medium-voltage reading lamps, heaters and applying oil on babies to keep them warm.

Furthermore,she stopped baby-bathing where the same towel wasused to dry many toddlers, thereby spreading infection.Instead, she insisted that babies be sponged, which in turn ensured proper hygiene.

Finally, the results showed. From 77, the fatality rate gradually plummeted to 14 %. Four years of meticulous research and dedication later, Dr Armida had made history. A friend recently told me that Dr Armida, after retirement, is currently busy in various social development projects, like slum development and Mother’s Milk Bank, among others. Dr Armida is an individual who showed the world that one person can actually make a difference. Somebody described her as one who gave life to a million babies. But then, I call her the mother of a million babies!