Patna: A single mother fled a hospital in Jharkhand shortly after giving birth to a baby girl.
The woman said she was leaving the child because she was afraid her own parents would disown the baby.
The single mother, a resident of Jharia locality in Dhanbad district, fled the hospital soon after she delivered the baby at the local Patliputra Medical College and Hospital on Monday night, hospital authorities said.
The baby is healthy and was being taken care of by hospital staff.
The story came to light after two departments of the hospital — the gynaecology and paediatric departments — clashed over who would take care of the newborn baby.
Reports said a young woman was admitted to the hospital on Monday night, while complaining of a stomach ache, but it turned out to be a different story during a medical check-up by the doctor.
As she was being treated, she went into labour, after which the doctors ensured her safe delivery.
She delivered the baby and remained in the care of gynaecology department for some time.
In the wee hours of Tuesday, she, however, fled on the pretext that she was going to the toilet.
When she didn’t return to her bed for long, the hospital authorities launched extensive searches for her and it was only then became clear that she had fled the hospital.
Before leaving the hospital, however, she penned her tale of woes in the hospital register.
“I can’t take care of this baby. I know my parents won’t accept the unclaimed baby. Hence, I am leaving my baby at the hospital,” was how the woman wrote in the hospital register before putting her signature in the end.
During the inquiry, the hospital authorities found the contact details mentioned in the register as well as her address fake, forcing them to take care of the abandoned baby.
The baby is currently admitted to the neo-natal intensive care unit of the hospital.
As per reports, the marriage of the woman had been fixed with her brother-in-law which was followed by a ring ceremony last year.
Subsequently, they kept on meeting at regular intervals during which her fiance even made physical contacts with her as a result of which she became pregnant. As ill luck would have it, her fiance died in a road accident just before the wedding could be solemnised.
Last year in August, a teenaged girl abandoned by her parents after she became pregnant following relationship with a man was forced to give birth on the side of a road after health centre staff refused to help her.
A passerby noticed her clothes soaked in blood and an umbilical cord still attached to the baby and got her admitted to a local hospital where she was finally treated. The incident took place in Saraikela-Kharsawan district in Jharkhand.
Alarmed at such cases, the Jharkhand government is now said to be planning to set up shelter homes to to provide free medical aid and adoption assistance for single mothers. According to Jharkhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights, more than 500 infants were abandoned in 2015 alone.
