posted July 30, 2006 11:16 AM         

She was however operated upon on Friday at the government hospital at Khargone, 348 km from here, and the dead foetus weighing a kilo-and-half was finally removed from her womb.

Renubai conceived two years after her marriage. But since her menstrual cycle started in the seventh month of her pregnancy, her family members thought she had a miscarriage and the foetus, which they thought was a tumour, remained in the womb.

On not conceiving again, the poor Dalit family took it as their fate and the couple adopted a son. Meanwhile, whenever Renubai complained of stomach ache, they took her to a quack as they could not afford to see a qualified doctor. His medicines provided her some relief and they never took the matter seriously.

This time, however, the medicines did not work and she was taken to the district hospital where sonography and other tests revealed that she was carrying a dead foetus.

Ultimately, she was successfully operated upon with her uterus being removed as a precautionary measure leaving the doctors astounded that the 15-year-old dead foetus did not cause any infection in the woman's womb.

Wondering at the 'amazing immune system' of the patient and appreciating her body resistance, Khargone district hospital civil surgeon Viraj Phalke, expressed surprise over her remaining alive for so many years with a dead foetus.