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The doctor had informed Hameeda that the jaundice was over and baby had recovered. The diagnosis that the baby
had suffered from jaundice came as no surprise for Hameeda. She said that she herself was suffering from jaundice for
a long time and it was diagnosed only when, after marriage, she visited a doctor for some illness. She said that all of her
six children had suffered from jaundice and later recovered by themselves. But this time they had taken the baby to a
doctor because he had cried a lot.
Hameeda concluded that for them there is nothing to worry about the newborn’s weight and that they do not visit a
doctor for that.
“The doctor also treated fever and jaundice and did not ask us to do anything. He gave two injections for strength (taqat ke
injection) to the baby”
Hameeda said that she and her mother were worried and had asked for visiting a doctor as the baby had cried for
whole night. She said that if her husband would not have agreed, they would have never taken the baby to a doctor.
She said that she did not know about any reports of the baby and that her husband might know about it. She said
“We are illiterate and ignorant, how would we know about these things”
Case Study 6 (Sukkur): Low Birth Weight
This case study is about a baby who was born with low birth weight and also had
convulsions. The case study shows that low birth weight is not a condition for which
the newborn is taken to a doctor for seeking care. The family of the newborn was not
concerned about the weight of the baby and only took him to the doctor when he suffered
from convulsions.
Respondent is grandmother of the newborn who narrated the events as follows:
When the baby was born he was perfectly alright. His mother had convulsions four or five times on the day of delivery.
For 9 days the baby was alright but on 10 th day he also had convulsions just like his mothers had. Mother took the baby
to a private doctor along with her husband and mother who practice in Sukkur city. He weighed the newborn and told
that the baby is very weak and has very less weight of 1.5 kg only. The doctor asked them to admit the baby in hospital.
He gave the baby blood and injections. He also gave him oxygen. He treated the baby at the Civil Hospital and we did
not have to spend any money. Later he prescribed a course of injections to the baby. It cost us 700 to 800 hundred
rupees. These injections were given by my husband’s cousin. He is not literate but has learned by working at the Bhatti
Hospital.
The newborn was very weak and had very less weight. Doctor’s medicines affected the weight of the baby as well
and he gained some weight. If the newborn was not ill we would have never taken him to the doctor just because
he had less weight. None of the earlier babies were born so thin. Our babies are usually very healthy as if they are 5
months old. The doctor said the convulsions were due to pneumonia but we don’t think that’s what it was. It was just
convulsions. The mother got injections only once during pregnancy. At the time of second injection she was at her
mother’s place and she did not take the card with her. We do not think that the convulsions were because of not taking
those injections. Whatever was it, it had no relation with the convulsions.
Fifteen days before delivery I took my daughter-in-law to the BHU for headache. There they conducted ultrasound as
well and said that the baby will be born after a whole month. However, he was born after only 15 days. The reason for
early delivery was that the doctor at BHU gave capsules for gaining strength to the mother. Her blood pressure was
already high and it increased even more because of those capsules. She was also given Cal-C. If she had not taken those
medicines the delivery would not have taken place earlier.
80 l Formative Research on Neonatal Sepsis, Low Birth Weight AND Birth Asphyxia