Odisha’s VIMSAR Forms 5-Member Doctors’ Team To Treat Newborn Rescued From Borewell

Sambalpur: A five-member doctors’ team have been constituted at VIMSAR, Burla, for treatment of the newborn baby girl, who was rescued from a 20-ft deep abandoned borewell in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Tuesday night.

According to medical superintendent Lal Mohan Nayak, the newborn was brought to the hospital around midnight and initially treated by a 10-member medical team at its Special Newborn Care Unit. “The newborn, a preterm baby weighing around 1.6 kg, is in a state of shock having fallen from a height. It appears that the baby has sustained injuries. We will be able to do a proper assessment once the her condition stabilises and she is revived from shock,” he said.

He further said that the newborn is currently under the treatment of the 5-member team lead by Prof Subhas Chandra Majhi and comprising neurosurgeon and paediatric and orthopaedic surgeons.

The newborn is on IV fluid and there has some improvement in her condition since being received. “She will be keep under observation for about 72 hours,” he added.

In a complex and incredible operation, Odisha’s disaster response force personnel successfully rescued the two-day-old baby from an abandoned borewell in a forest near Laripali village in Rengali block after an eight-hour-long operation that entailed sending oxygen and lighting up filament bulb to keep her warm.

The incident came to light around 1 pm after some people passing passing through the forest heard cries of the baby from inside ae pit. On being informed, fire services personnel rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation around 2 pm. Oxygen was then supplied into the pit for the baby. Soon earth movers were deployed and another pit was dug near the borewell to reach the child, who was finally rescued at around 9.45 pm.

The rescuers used a victim location camera that was flown in from Bhubaneswar which showed that the baby was stuck in the pit in an inverted position with its head directed downwards.

“After reaching a depth of around 25 ft, the team cut the borewell pipe with an electric cutter initially and then with a hand saw. The baby was stuck at 13 ft below the surface,” Odisha Fire Services DG Sudhansu Sarangi told the media.

The newborn was then rushed to VIMSAR, Burla. A paediatrician attached to the hospital had then said that the baby had a few minor bruises on her body and was suffering from hypothermia (a condition that occurs when the body loses heat fast, causing a dangerously low body temperature).

The rescue team comprised fire services personnel from Rengali, a team of ODRAF from OSAP 2nd Battalion and another squad of NDRF from Mundali.

Police, however, are yet to ascertain how the incident took place. No one has come forward to claim the baby.