India News | 102-year-old Woman Gets Pacemaker in Kolkata
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Doctors of a private hospital in Kolkata successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 102-year-old woman and discharged her from the facility within two days, one of the physicians concerned said on Tuesday.
Kolkata, Mar 18 (PTI) Doctors of a private hospital in Kolkata successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 102-year-old woman and discharged her from the facility within two days, one of the physicians concerned said on Tuesday.
Implanting a pacemaker may be a common procedure but performing the surgery in the heart of a 102-year-old woman is a rarity, doctors said.
Dr Smriti Kana Roy, a gynaecologist who used to treat Saint Teresa and other nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, underwent the operation on Saturday.
Roy, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, had complained of dizziness when doctors found irregular heartbeats and prescribed the implant, her younger daughter Julie Basu told PTI from California.
"It was an amazing experience. She has no comorbidities. But her heart rate had decreased and her halter rate recorded a pause of six seconds. We suggested the need for a pacemaker implant.
“She was admitted on Saturday morning and the surgery was done on that very day. She was discharged Monday," Dr Sunil Baran Roy, senior consultant of interventional cardiology at Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, said.
The centenarian told PTI from her residence in south Kolkata's Ballygunge area that she was confident about the success of the surgery.
"I feel better. I do not know whether this is a miracle or not because I am not the one to decide that. What has been suggested to me by the doctors, I have followed that,” she said.
Asked about the secret of her being so agile even at this age, Roy said she works, reads newspapers and books and keeps herself busy.
“I believe in helping others and working for them has given me satisfaction," Roy said.
"My mother has been a very disciplined woman and she follows a strict routine even today. She is very strong mentally and I have never seen her crying. Even Covid could not touch her," said 66-year-old Julie, who is scheduled to come to the city soon.
Roy had to leave her two daughters, aged seven and three years, when she went to the UK in 1964 for her Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Later, she was rewarded with the Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FRCOG).
Born in 1922, Roy recounted that Mother Teresa admitted her elder daughter June to the Loreto Convent, where she used to teach before forming Missionaries of Charity.
"I remember how she took my elder daughter and got her admitted to Loreto when I was not getting free time from work," Roy said.
She also remembered inviting Mother Teresa and other sisters of the Missionaries of Charity to her elder daughter's wedding.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)