Pune becomes the first city in India to have a baby girl delivered after successful uterine transplant 17 months back. The team at Galaxy Hospital Pune delivered the 1,4-kg baby girl at 12.12 am, after a 12-minute Cesarean section operation. Tears rolled down the cheeks of Meenakshi, 27 when she heard the robust cry of her baby girl.
Meenakshi received the uterus from her mother, thus giving birth to her daughter out of the same womb from which she was born. Meenakshi had Asherman’s syndrome after one term stillbirth and 5 miscarriages, one of which ended in uterine and bowel perforation.
She received a laparoscopic uterine transplant on May 18-19, 2017. The transplants in the US and Sweden were performed by open surgeries, but Meenakshi’s case both the organ retrieval and transplant were performed laparoscopically.
Meenakshi conceived after the first embryo transfer in March this year. She was kept under close observation for the last 5 months in the Galaxy Hospital. She developed borderline gestational diabetes because of immunosuppressant drugs.
She also developed Pregnancy Induced Hypertension and was scheduled for an elective cesarean at 34 weeks. However, her Amniotic fluid index fell sharply, and the team has to perform an emergency cesarean section at 12.12 A.M. on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
The man behind the first uterine transplant in India is Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, a cancer surgeon, specialized in laparoscopic cancer surgery. He is considered as an expert in laparoscopic pelvic surgery and gynecological cancer surgery in the world and has developed laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cancer cervix known world over as the 'Pune technique.'
Speaking about the first baby girl delivered he said, “History has been created. This is, in fact, a very proud moment for India, as figures show that this is the twelfth baby in the world to be born through a uterus transplant. Nine such babies were born in Sweden, two in the United States, and now this is the first one in all of Asia.”
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