Baby survives night in ditch

The baby at the Purulia hospital. (Amit Datta)

 July 23: A newborn girl who had been left in a ditch survived an entire night in neck-deep cold water and battled several diseases, including septicaemia, after being rescued to live another day.

The baby was found in a ditch in Purulia’s Burrabazar by villagers on the morning of June 30 and was admitted to Deben Mahato Sadar Hospital. She battled septicaemia, hypothermia (low body temperature), severe low birth weight and fever for three weeks and is now fit to be discharged.

But as there is nobody to claim her, the nurses and the parents of other babies receiving treatment at the hospital are looking after her. “The doctors have said she is perfectly alright now. But as she had been abandoned by her family, she has nowhere to go. We are planning to hand her over to the district social welfare department,” said Mithun Banik, the assistant medical superintendent of the hospital.

Hospital officials said the baby was barely conscious and extremely frail when the villagers admitted her. “She was not crying. The chances of her survival were minimal. She was suffering from respiratory distress, lung congestion and septicaemia. Water had entered her gastrointestinal system,” said a doctor of the Purulia hospital. “Moreover, her weight was below 1.5kg, which is considered extremely low.” According to neonatalogists, the minimum weight of a child immediately after birth should be 2.5kg.

The baby was given antibiotics and other medicines. She was kept on a radiant warmer. “We bought clothes and powdered milk for her,” a nurse said. She said the mothers of some of the babies admitted at the hospital also gave her clothes.

“We’ll give her a name before she leaves,” a staff member said. District officials said the baby might be taken to a centre for abandoned neonatals in Bankura.