At the forefront of care

Dr. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, Practicing Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, has been at the forefront of healthcare dealing with the health problems of women for almost three decades. Every normal healthy baby that she delivers gives her immense satisfaction and joy, and seeing the mother and child go home happily is her everyday desire as a physician. However, in her daily routine, there are critical cases that she encounters. "With the diverse population that we have in Dubai, I've seen many different complications. In fact, it is richly rewarding to be a doctor here. We identify the problem and deal with it successfully. It has been an amazing journey," she says in an interview with Khaleej Times.
Dr. Srinivasan continues, "Which one is the most complicated or critical case is difficult to point out. However, I've dealt with triplet pregnancies, patients who've had four or five Caesareans before (high-risk patients), pregnancies with multiple fibroids, severe pre-eclampsia, antepartum or postpartum haemorrhage. One highlight is a patient of mine who had so much bleeding during the Caesarean operation because of an inherent defect. She had to have massive amounts of blood transfusion and was treated in the ICU, and that's how we managed to save her life." 
Besides delivery and complicated cases, the doctor deals with gynaecology laparoscopy, both intraoperative and postoperative. "We have patients who come to us with large-sized fibroids, almost like an eight-month pregnancy, multiple fibroids and severe endometriosis where the bowel and bladder are badly stuck together. These are all very risky surgeries that were successfully handled," recalls the doctor.
Dr. Srinivasan has helped young women who have not been pregnant for a long time to conceive, take them through the pregnancy and deliver the baby. "We've had a patient who had triplets born premature, around 25 weeks, who were in the hospital for more than 100 days, weighing around 800 gms each. They were well taken care of during all the different stages of complications. Another baby born prematurely around 29 weeks had intestinal obstruction. Had we not caught the problem and done the operation in the middle of the night, we would have lost the baby."  
From a mother's point of view, Dr. Srinivasan says that some young women go to her with severe blood pressure, diabetes and bleeding. "We are able to deal with them and see to it that they stay for the minimum number of days in the hospital, are quickly taken care of and sent home."
According to her, women should always keep track of their health. "They have to take care of their health through good nutrition, exercise or read up on complications that can happen in different stages of life. Young adolescents should exercise and eat well. Young mothers have to read up about pregnancy and take care during the different stages through diet, proper sleep, exercise and posture. She should know about check-ups and the treatments available or tests that she can do to prevent complications. From 35 years to menopause, women should make sure not to get into other complications like blood pressure and diabetes. There are different forms of surveillance for women such as screening tests for cervical cancer or breast cancer. Patients should know what are the services available, where and the time to be done. Menopause has different sets of issues to take care of."
After so many years at work, taking care of patients comes naturally to her. "As such, with the years of experience that you have, you know that there is a system in place, you are able to handle cases and follow it methodically. The comforting fact is that there are a set of doctors, nurses, operation theatre staff who are there to help, simply people to rely on," says the doctor. 
She concludes, "When I came here, patients who had complications preferred to go to their home countries to deliver or get operated. That comfort was not there. Now the trend is rapidly changing, patients want to be here in the UAE and get operated. They have so much confidence in the system because of the best practices in care that we follow and the facilities available. They find no reason to go back to their home country. Healthcare is evolving rapidly now with insurance in place. Being sick in the UAE is no longer a problem anymore. I am very proud of that." 
- suchitra@khaleejtimes.com