CUTTACK: The Millennium City is grappling with a peculiar problem of deserted baby girls. In the last six months, six such incidents have taken place in the city, the latest occurring on Sunday night at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Pediatrics, popularly known as Sishu Bhawan. An ailing premature baby girl was abandoned by a couple at the hospital. The baby was admitted in the old ward of the hospital on Sunday morning but in the evening hours when the infant was sleeping, her parents fled from the hospital.
The hospital authorities came to know about the incident in the night when the nurses sought the baby's mother to feed her. According to hospital authorities, a woman, who gave her name as Mamata Pradhan, along with her husband Bhakti Ranjan Pradhan had admitted the newborn baby to the hospital on Sunday morning.
"The couple had pre-planned to abandon the baby at the hospital. They admitted the baby in the hospital in the morning and after a few hours they fled with all their belongings, leaving the little baby on the bed," said a nurse at the hospital. Due to premature delivery, the baby is underweight and has been kept in the incubator. "The baby is very weak and weighs only 1.5 kg. She has been kept in the incubator and nurses are taking proper care of her," said a doctor treating the infant.
Meanwhile, hospital authorities have informed the police about the incident. "The admission ticket of the baby reveals that her parents are from Baritola village in Jagatsinghpur district. We have given the address to police to look for her parents. Till then the baby will be kept in the hospital," said Hiranya Mohanty, superintendent of the hospital.
The district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has also launched a search operation for the abandoned baby's parents. "Our team has already gone to Jagatsinghpur district in search of the baby's parents. But it's a matter of concern as the incidences of deserting baby girls is rising in the city," said Rini Mohanty, member of CWC.
Exposing a heartless side of the city, twin baby girls were abandoned at the railway platform in November last year. A few days later, a baby girl was rescued from the roadside in Manglabagh area. In a much publicized incident recently, another baby girl has been lying abandoned in the neo-natal unit of SCB hospital as her parents have refused to accept her. They have alleged that their baby boy was swapped with the girl child.
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