The concept of providing facility of hospital delivery to the women of Puttaparthi and its surrounding villages can be traced back to
the very inception of Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital. The department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is the oldest and the largest department of this hospital. The Department caters to the maternity and other health needs of women belonging to Puttaparthi and three other Mandals surrounding it, namely Bukkapatnam, Kothacheruvu and Nallamada, covering a radius of nearly 35 kilometers. The department not only provides comprehensive medical care for safe motherhood but also offers gynaecological services including surgery for many of the common gynaecological ailments of women at all stages of their lives
Location and components of the Department:
The Department is located in the old (original) building of this hospital and consists of the following components.
- An outpatient section located in the ground floor, which has well-equipped consultation rooms, examination cubicles and a large waiting area for patients, provided with comfortable chairs. Around 100 antenatal cases attend OP every day in addition to the gynaecology related cases and cases needing emergency admission to the labour ward.
- Booking clinic is allotted separate days and timings and the patients registered for delivery in this hospital are issued a specially printed departmental notebook, which containing relevant demographic details of the patient followed by an exhaustive proforma to elicit clinical details of the patient, lab study, immunization, follow up checks, USG reports, pregnancy outcome, delivery notes and postpartum check-up details etc., complete with family planning advice. Health education is also incorporated for pregnant mothers in a narrative and pictorial form in the book, so as to enable expectant mothers to read or be read unto them the contents, in their spare time at home.
- A homely atmosphere is provided in the waiting area where a senior Staff member interacts with patients while eliciting important information regarding their medical/ social problems etc.
- All patients are offered a specially prepared Ragi drink while they are waiting for their turn to be seen.
- In a building located opposite the entrance of the main hospital, patients queue up early in the morning in an orderly fashion, in a large hall, waiting to be registered and given a token number. This hall is also used to hold counselling and health education classes for the expectant mothers by a very committed and experienced team of staff members, twice a week. One unique feature of these counselling classes is that, the husbands/ in- laws/ parents of these patients are allowed to participate, so that they will understand the special needs in the care of a pregnant woman. They are also taught to get rid of some untenable superstitious practices and to change their ideas on consanguinity, prejudice regarding the girl child etc.
- A large, cool, spacious Labour Ward is located to the left of the OP block; where in-labour waiting cases and high risk (term) pregnancy cases needing close surveillance are kept.
- Leading out from this ward, are three Labour Rooms, one of which is utilized for eclampsia cases. All the labour rooms are well equipped, with labour tables, foetal Doppler’s, CTG Monitor , piped oxygen/ air facility, suction apparatus, an ultra sound machine intended solely for Obstetrics and gynaecology, focus as well as overhead lamps for procedures, baby warmer, baby weighing machine , resuscitation trolleys, delivery trays etc. An average of 170 to 190 deliveries takes place every month with higher numbers at peak time.
- In the first floor, are two excellent operation theatres, one of which is kept ready for emergency Caesarean sections. An average of 60 to 70 caesareans is performed each month in addition to gynaecological surgeries like Hysterectomies etc.
- In the same floor are two post-operative step down wards with piped oxygen/ air, suction machine, 5 Para monitors, pulse oxymeter, emergency medical trolley etc. Two High Dependency Beds replete with ventilator, Defbrillator, ECG machine, infusion pumps, 5 Para monitors, ABG analysers etc. are planned for the future.
- Adjacent to the post-operative rooms is the post-partum ward, where some high risk pregnancy cases are also kept. All the mothers are counselled regarding the importance and the technique of breast feeding. A gift package consisting of the essential items for a new born is distributed to every baby born in this hospital. A level one Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit is located in proximity to this ward and caters to babies needing special care and is an added boon to the maternity services. There is also a 3 bedded isolation ward and a well-equipped surgical dressing room located separately on this floor.
Finally to sum up, a list of some obstetrics & gynaecology speciality procedural services provided to the patients are: Normal deliveries, episiotomies, Caesarean section, assisted breech deliveries, assisted Twin deliveries, retained placenta, forceps deliveries, cervical cautery, dilatation & curettage, suturing cervical tear, examination under anaesthesia, ectopic pregnancies, tubectomy in certain cases, cervical cytology (pap smear), hysterectomies (both abdominal & Vaginal), Caesarean hysterectomy, laparotomies, removal of ovarian cysts etc. A referral system is in place for management of cases needing special secondary/ tertiary level care.
We have a 24×7 blood bank facility provided by our sister institution of SSSIHMS and also round the clock lab facility. There is also a well-organized records section and a lovely Altar for Bhagawan, close to the patients seating area.