Dr. Sheela Gupte
Dr. Sheela Gupte is a senior consultant obstetrician and gynecologist with a special interest in Fetal Medicine.
A graduate in Medicine and Surgery from Nagpur, she pursued her masters in Obstetrics and Gynecology and earned her MD in the year 1983.
Since then, she has acquired a varied and rich clinical expertise in managing a wide range of high risk and complex gynecological and obstetric conditions, in settings ranging from remote and ill-equipped to modern multi-speciality institutions with state-of-the art medical facilities.
One area where all this conventional specialisation and experience was yet inadequate was the prevention and treatment of defects and diseases afflicting the unborn baby. The shock and misery that parents, other relatives and the attending doctors suffer at the unexpected birth of a child with a physical or mental defect is overwhelming. Similarly, the unanticipated loss of a baby in the womb or shortly after birth too, is a tragedy beyond consolation.
Thus it is that she has been actively training in various aspects of the emerging superspeciality called Fetal Medicine, for more than a decade now. Fetal Medicine recognizes that the baby is no longer a by-product of pregnancy, but a patient in her own right.
In the year 2003, Dr. Sheela Gupte earned the Ian Donald Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaec Ultrasound.
She went on to acquire intensive training in Ultrasound Detection of Birth Defects at the prestigious Mediscan, Bangalore, in 2004, under the guidance of Dr. Hema Divakar. This equipped her to perform a Level III, Targeted Scan for fetal anomalies in the Second Trimester.
She worked to achieve advanced training in fetal echocardiography at the renowned Mediscan System in Chennai with Dr. S. Suresh and Dr. Indrani Suresh in September 2005.
She braced herself with skills in interventional procedures in Fetal Medicine. These new skills were consolidated at the AIIMS, New Delhi, in August 2008, under Dr. Deepika Deka, then Chairperson of FOGSI Genetic and Fetal Medicine Committee.
She has the distinction of being awarded a certificate of competence in Ultrasound Examination in early pregnancy (11-14 weeks) by the FETAL MEDICINE FOUNDATION, UK, by Prof. Kypros Nicolaides, the father of Fetal Medicine.
She holds the appropriate licence (FMF ID 41745) for performing the Nuchal Translucency Scan for chromosomal defects like Downs syndrome in the first trimester itself. She joins a handful of sonographers in India whose names figure on the rolls of the website www.fetalmedicine.com in the list of certified sonographers for performing this specialized scan.
She has been accredited by the FETAL MEDICINE FOUNDATION, UK, for performing targeted anomaly scans and Obstetric Doppler studies.
Dr. Sheela sees herself as a torch-bearer in her mission to bring health and joy to all the unborn babies and their parents.