He was at the right place at the right time — more importantly, he just passed the medical licensure exam, which made him legally qualified to handle the emergency.
New doctor Mikko Manalastas had to perform an emergency delivery at the backseat of a car just two days before getting his doctor’s license number.
Fresh from a “very tiring but fulfilling celebration” the night before, the graduate of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, narrated how he encountered an anxious man and a pregnant woman who already seemed to be in distress inside the elevator of the Pasig building where he lived.
“I immediately pressed the alarm button in the elevator to inform [the building staff] that there was a mother in labor and that we needed assistance. I dropped my bags and went up to them and introduced myself. What luck because I wore my Ateneo Medicine shirt today,” Manalastas wrote on Facebook on Sat, Oct 1.
Manalastas took charge of the situation and told the couple to remain calm.
He told the father to get his car as he talked to the mother. Like any good doctor, he assured her that everything would be okay.
When Manlastas checked on the mother upon reaching their car, he saw that the baby’s head was already crowning. Thus, he made the decision to make the mother lie down in the backseat. He then had to put his medical skills to the test.
The situation was even more difficult since Manalastas did not have the proper medical instruments with him. He had to improvise.
“I grabbed my bag and took out my bath towel (clean and unused) and placed it over the mother’s abdomen. I used wet wipes to clean the area and used the wet wipes as makeshift gloves and waited for the baby’s head to come out,” he related.
The new doctor gave credit to the mother for being “strong and very brave.” He noted, “With just a few good pushes, the baby’s head popped out. I grabbed her head and maneuvered to deliver the rest of her body.”
Manalastas was successfully able to deliver the baby girl, whom the parents called Gabriella Ann.
When the condo personnel arrived with a first aid kit, Manalastas was able to use sterile gloves and bandage scissors to cut the cord. He also used the mother’s sturdy metal clip for clamping.
After the emergency, Manalastas told the new parents to go to the hospital to have their baby checked. Three hours later, he received “the most heartfelt and sincere message of appreciation” — along with a photo of the baby girl.
“It was an honor to deliver such a precious gift from God. Thank you for reminding why I became a doctor,” Manalastas wrote his post.
The story has now gone viral on social media with 34,000 likes and 3,7000 shares as of 11am on Wed, Oct 5.
Here is Manalastas’ viral post:
