.jpg "Savarimuthu was the first recorded baby delivered through C-section in Kerala")
Mikhail Savarimuthu’s birth was hailed as a miracle nearly a century ago. The 99-year-old former soldier, the first recorded baby delivered through caesarean section in Kerala that saved his and his mother's life, died on Thursday.
The doctors had told Savarimuthu’s parents that they could save either the mother or the baby. Michael and Mary, the couple from Kundamankadavu who had already lost three children at birth, were crestfallen.
Fortunately, they had a guardian angel in the form of Dr Mary Poonen Lukose, who had trained in surgery from London. She informed them about a new surgical procedure which increased the chances of saving both the mother and the child.
Dr Lukose, the first woman surgeon in Kerala, led a team of doctors at the Thycaud Government Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to attempt the first C-section recorded in a state hospital in 1920. The child lived for nearly 100 years.
Savarimuthu served in the Army before joining the government press in Thiruvananthapuram and stayed in the Palayam area. He is survived by wife K. Rosamma, son S. Alexander and daughters S. Leela and S. Philomina.
His brother, three years his junior, was also born through C-section. Another early C-section baby, T.K. Seethalakshmi Ammal from Thycaud, died last year.