Expensive lesson!

(Baonghean) - During her pregnancy, Ms. Xong Y Ca, 18 years old, in Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district, only went to the commune health station twice for check-ups and did not go for regular vaccinations. On the day of birth, Xong did not go to the commune health station but gave birth at home. Her grandparents assisted her and used a bamboo stick to cut the umbilical cord...

With innocent faces and sad eyes looking at their 15-day-old daughter who was receiving IV fluids on the hospital bed, the couple Lau Ba Co (21 years old) and Xong Y Ca (18 years old) in Huoi Khi village, Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district fumbled when the nurses at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital instructed them on how to take care of their child. Two years ago, Lau Ba Co organized a wife-taking ceremony according to the traditional customs of the Mong ethnic group in Muong Tip commune. Married at a very young age, the family's economy depended entirely on slash-and-burn farming, so the couple's life was very difficult.

More than a year ago, Xong Y Ca became pregnant to the joy of her paternal and maternal families. During her pregnancy, Xong Y Ca still worked hard in the fields, and the girl, who was not yet 18 years old, did not think about having to go for prenatal check-ups or ultrasounds to check her health. Partly because her house was too far from the commune health station, and partly because for a long time, generations of Mong people in the village still lived like deer in the forest, rarely going to the hospital if not necessary. During the 9 months of pregnancy, with the encouragement and advice of the village health workers, Xong Y Ca only went for check-ups twice and did not get the recommended routine vaccinations.

On the day of birth, like other women in the village, following the Mong people's custom, Xong Y Ca gave birth at home. The delivery was performed by her mother and mother-in-law. Thanks to her good health, Y Ca's birth was quite smooth. The newborn girl's paternal and maternal grandmothers used a bamboo stick that had long been held in the kitchen to cut the umbilical cord and stop the bleeding in the traditional way. Thinking that the birth was successful, mother and child were safe, Lau Ba Co and her family members were overjoyed and excited, invited a priest to come and perform a ceremony and named the baby Lau Y Ho. After the ceremony, the baby girl showed strange signs such as crying loudly, not breastfeeding, and being stiff, causing the whole family to be confused and worried.

At this time, Lau Ba Co's older brother, Lau Ba Dia, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Tip commune, had just returned home from school. Seeing that his niece was showing signs of danger, Dia took her through the forest to the emergency room at Ky Son District General Hospital. After that, the hospital used an ambulance to take baby Ho to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital for emergency treatment of umbilical tetanus. When admitted to the hospital, the newborn baby girl showed signs of danger, with continuous convulsions, cyanosis, increased muscle strength, etc. The Infectious Diseases Department of the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital mobilized all doctors and modern equipment to perform emergency treatment, put her on a ventilator, placed a nasogastric tube, and treated her according to the tetanus protocol. Doctor Nguyen Van Son, Head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the hospital, said that after more than a week of treatment, Lau Y Ho had basically overcome the critical stage.

This is a rare and quite miraculous case because normally, babies infected with umbilical tetanus often have a very poor prognosis, most of them die. For a long time, we have been moving towards completely eliminating umbilical tetanus thanks to vaccination for pregnant mothers as well as absolute sterilization measures when cutting the umbilical cord and delivering babies, but due to lack of knowledge and subjectivity, some ethnic minority families in mountainous areas still deliver babies at home, using bamboo sticks to cut the umbilical cord, leading to heartbreaking consequences. "This is truly a lesson for all families, a warning for people as well as grassroots medical teams in villages and hamlets in mountainous areas," said Dr. Son.

The doctor monitors Lau Y Ho's health.

After more than a week of taking care of his child in the hospital, listening to the doctors explain the cause of tetanus infection as well as his daughter's current health condition, Lau Ba Co's face relaxed a bit. Co honestly confided: "In our village, every family has a bamboo stick to cut the umbilical cord of their child when born. For a long time, very few people have been vaccinated or had regular check-ups when pregnant." Lau Ba Dia, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Tip Commune, said that not only in Huoi Khi Village but also in many other villages in the commune, the economic life of the people is still facing many difficulties, their awareness is limited, so the conditions for medical care are not guaranteed. Lau Y Ho's incident is a lesson for everyone. When the article was published, we received information that Y Ho had been discharged from the hospital. “After this time, I will ask the commune and village health workers to actively propagate to the people, using Ho as an example so that everyone in the villages must have regular check-ups during pregnancy, and if they are sick, they must seek medical help, and must not treat themselves at home anymore,” Mr. Dia confided...

Nguyen Khoa