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Assisted by doc on video call, commuter helps woman deliver at Ram Mandir stn

Mumbai: In a scene reminiscent of the superhit Bollywood film '3 Idiots', where Kareena Kapoor, playing a doctor, helped Aamir Khan deliver a baby over a video call, a commuter on a Churchgate-bound local on Thursday helped a woman deliver a baby boy, following the instructions of an ayurvedic doctor over a video call. "I was scared the entire time - scared of doing something wrong. But I just wanted to help," the commuter, videographer Vikas Bedre, told HT. "It was only later, when the family called me and said, 'You helped us like God' that it really hit me - my hands were still shaking, but I felt proud, emotional and honestly, thankful that I was there at that moment." Bedre was scheduled to fly to Ahmedabad early in the morning on Thursday. He boarded the first class compartment of a Churchgate-bound local at Goregaon at around 12.40am, hoping to make his way to the airport, and was seated near the ladies' compartment. Through the mesh separating the two compartments, he saw a pregnant woman, 25-year-old Ambika Jha from Virar, sitting in an odd position - holding her stomach, as if she was in great pain. Jha was accompanied by her brother, sister and a small child, on her way to Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central for her delivery. When the train reached Ram Mandir station, Bedre realised that Jha's water had broken and she couldn't take it anymore. "Instinctively, I pulled the chain and alighted from the train with her and her relatives. I placed her on a counter and started shouting for help, but there was no doctor, no railway staff, nothing," he recalled. After waiting helplessly for several minutes, which seemed neverending in the face of Jha's pain, Bedre decided to call Dr Devika Deshmukh, an MD in Ayurveda, whom he had worked with on a project some months ago. "When I saw his name, I knew it had to be an emergency and answered the call," Dr Deshmukh told HT. Bedre then intimated her about the situation and showed her Jha's condition over a video call, as she writhed in pain, surrounded by anxious relatives, railway staff and commuters. "I saw that the baby's head was already out. There was no time to reach the hospital," she recalled. "I told him to lay her down and let the baby come out naturally." The doctor told Bedre not to panic or force anything and said the mother would do it herself. She also spoke to Jha and told her to push the baby out. "I kept telling her to push her abdomen downwards. I know how much that matters. I needed the same during my own deliveries," the doctor said. Once the baby boy was out and he started crying, Bedre was overcome with "a mix of relief, disbelief and pure joy". "The mother and baby were both okay and she was smiling through her exhaustion. For a few moments, I forgot everything else," he said. Dr Deshmukh, still on video call, then instructed Bedre to cut the baby's umbilical cord. "Following her instructions, I kept a six-inch distance from the baby, heated a pair of scissors using a lighter flame, and cut the umbilical cord. There was no cloth or medical aid. I just wrapped the baby in whatever was available and placed him on the mother's chest," he said. Around twenty minutes later, Jha and the baby were taken to Cooper Hospital in an ambulance, along with her relatives. It was only then that Bedre realised that he still had a flight to catch. "I rushed to the airport and managed to board the flight on the last call," he said. Railway activist Samir Zaveri decried the absence of an emergency medical room at Ram Mandir and other suburban stations. "The incident shows that the railway stations are not equipped to handle medical emergencies," Zaveri said.

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