Berhampur: A daily labourer couple abandoned their newborn baby boy in a private hospital as he was born with physical deformities in Odisha’s Ganjam district.
According to sources, Sisir Swain of Khairput village under Belaguntha block of the district had admitted his 8-month pregnant wife Sabita Swain after she suffered labour pain in a private hospital near Berhampur new bus stand on June 7.
After conducting ultrasound and various tests, the doctors of the hospital dictated some complicacies in the uterus and advised operation for delivery. Subsequently, Sabita delivered the baby through Caesarian section.
But the doctors told Sisir that the baby had problems in the spinal cord and excess fluid in the brain. Since the treatment of the ailments was costly, the couple left the newborn in a toilet in the hospital at the time of discharge and left.
On being informed, Childline officials accompanied by a tram from Baidyanathpur police station went to the hospital and rescued the baby on Sunday. They also admitted the newborn in the special newborn care unit (SNCU) of the MKCG Medical and Hospital in Berhampur.
Meanwhile, the police traced Sisir and Sabita and counselled them to take the baby back. They admitted to the police that they had left the baby in the hospital as they could not afford the costly treatment from their meagre sources of income.
Childline member Shiba Sankar Das said for some reasons, the hospital staff were not initially willing to let them rescue the baby. However, they took the help of police in this regard and admitted the newborn in MKCG Hospital, he added.
