The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Meet a healthy and hale 2 year-old ‘Namdu’ (helicopter or plane) Dorji, who was born overdue after 10 months and 6 days at the JDWNRH after being medically airlifted from Laya on November 2015.
Namdu Dorji’s mother, Kinley Wangmo who was into her second pregnancy and 30 years old then, had a complication called ‘transverse lie’ where the fetus progresses in sideways position with baby’s head to one of his mother’s sides and the bottom across her abdomen at her other side. Although such occurrence is normal before 26 weeks, it poses risks to the life of the mother and the baby if the baby is not head down by the 29-30th week.
During the first Royal Highland Festival last year, Namdu Dorji and his mother had the privilege of meeting with His Majesty the King. “His Majesty enquired about our well being and asked Namdu Dorji to be given proper care, and that the boy will not be forgotten for life,” said Kinley Wangmo. The boy was referred as ‘Namdu Dorji’ thereon by His Majesty.
Initially he was named Jigme Wangchuk. Kinley Wangmo’s story came to light through media attention as it was the first case where medical evacuation was performed by the newly introduced helicopter services within the country. Kinley Wangmo said that Namdu Dorji is growing up as healthy as any other child born through normal births.
Kinley Wangmo said that although she went for her regular check-ups to the gewog BHU, the lack of proper medical equipments in the unit could not determine her delay and she was told by the Health Assistant there that performing any surgical incision in the BHU would not be possible.
So upon reaching JDWNRH, ultrasound was performed and within two hours, Namdu Dorji was delivered through C-section. Kinley Wangmo, who could decipher her recurrent pains for about a month, only upon reaching the hospital said, “I was told that since the baby was in breech position, whatever food I ate was not able to reach my baby. I thought both of us will not survive the journey, I almost lost him. ”
One impact of Namdu Dorji is that Gasa dzongkhag received an ultrasound facility at Gasa BHU in June this year after constant pleas from the locals.
Kinley Wangmo’s elder son, Rinchen Namgay, 8 was also delivered through caesarean.
The tradition in the region has it that the males in the family will get to stay with their parents while the girls have to move out and settle with their husbands. If there is not a single male in the family, the elder sister will get to keep the house, while the younger ones will have to move out.
Some of the older people in the locality told the paper that they prefer sons over daughters as sons are more productive with tough works at home and are the ones to stay with the parents.
