BHOPAL: A couple in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda district abandoned their baby soon after birth because she has a clubfoot, a treatable condition in which the feet are twisted down and inward, but eventually came back for her after the hospital reached out to them, a government doctor said.
The infant’s parents left after getting her admitted to the hospital’s special newborn care unit, said a doctor at the district hospital, 150 km from state capital Bhopal. “The hospital administration has taken care of the baby for the past 36 hours,” the doctor said on condition of anonymity.
Harda district civil surgeon Dr Shirish Raghuvanshi said: “Due to superstition, parents abandoned the baby girl, who was born with congenital deformities, and returned to their village but we counselled them. We also informed them about the law as they can’t leave a baby like that and will have to face criminal action.”
They understood and came back, he added.
On Wednesday, the hospital and district administration brought the parents back to the hospital.
The infant’s mother denied that they abandoned her, insisting that they had gone back to the village to discuss the child’s medical condition. “We didn’t leave the girl… We went to our village to discuss the condition of the baby with the elders,” she said.
“The baby was born 6 years after marriage… We will not leave her,” he said.
Dr Raghuvanshi said the baby was under treatment because she weighs less than 2 kg. “Once she gets stable, we will refer the baby to Hamidia Hospital, Bhopal… orthopedic doctors will treat her.”
Clubfoot is estimated to afflict nearly 50,000 babies in the country every year and can often be treated by use of miniature plaster casts. If it is not treated, it can make it hard for a child to walk without a limp.
(With inputs from Ram Parashar from Harda)
