A woman was in labour at Munger district hospital when the ground shook on Tuesday afternoon. Everybody ran for cover, but the gynaecological team emerged only with some good news.

The expecting mother had been taken to the operating table around 11am. After the necessary pre-surgery formalities, the Caesarean procedure had started a few minutes earlier when the first tremor struck. It was around 12.35pm.

Medical staff across the hospital ran to the hospital's open ground. Except gynaecologist Nirmala Gupta (50) and her team.

"We could make out it was a quake. But we had little option as the operation had commenced, a cut had been made in the woman's uterus. How could we even think of moving out," Nirmala asked, sometime after emerging from the operating theatre (OT) with a smile.

She had reason to be happy. Her commitment had resulted in a safe birth.

The mother emerged from the OT around 1.30pm after post-surgery medication and suturing of cuts. Neither the quake, nor two aftershocks - one at 12.47pm and another one at 1.06pm - deterred Nirmala and her team from doing their duty.

Nirmala was all praise for her team - medical officer Rampreet Singh, senior nurses Veena Devi and Elisa, operating theatre assistants Gopal and Nirbhay and trained health worker Lalita - who stood with her, worrying little about their safety.

"It was a brave act on the part of my team. Without them, I couldn't have performed the surgery," she said, wiping sweat off her brow.

Soni Devi was under the influence of anaesthesia when the temblor hit and had not regained consciousness when her baby was born during the quake.

Her husband Amar Nayan Sinha, expectedly, appeared concerned. "Thanks to Dr Gupta I am the father of a healthy baby now. Had her team panicked and fled the OT, my wife's life would have been in danger," Amar, a non-teaching employee at a private school, said.

Poonam Devi, the grandmother of the newborn baby, said: "Had Dr Gupta not shown courage, my daughter-in-law Soni's life would have been threatened. My family would remain indebted to this doctor forever."

Munger civil surgeon Rameshwar Mahto said: "The presence of such team members gives one strength to work for humanity in the most adverse conditions. I am proud of Nirmala."

Nirmala, however, went about her work like on any other day. "Such things happen but life does not stop at any point," she said. She went on to conduct another Caesarean, this time bringing smiles on the face of another mother, Asha Devi (28).