Baby boy found in bushes at JPMC

Newborn currently on antibiotics as he was bitten by ants and mosquitoes

KARACHI: A newborn baby boy was found abandoned at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in the wee hours of Monday and was shifted to the hospital's nursery.

The baby was spotted by a security guard in the bushes near ward 20 of the hospital. "At 2am, we heard crying and followed it. There, we found a baby," the security guard told The Express Tribune.

The newborn was rushed to the gynae ward for treatment as there were ants crawling all over the baby, he added.





The baby is currently on antibiotics as when he was brought to the ward he had been bitten by ants and mosquitoes, said an employee of the hospital's nursery, requesting anonymity. The employee also informed that the baby was born a day earlier. He is being kept at the gynaecological ward, she added.

After the baby was recovered, we bathed him on the directions of the doctor. The staff donated money to get new clothes and a feeder for him, said the receptionist of the ward, Fazlur Rehman.

Search for parents

The baby is in a stable condition after timely treatment, informed JPMC spokesperson Dr Javed Jamali. The decision regarding his handing over will be taken after consulting police and the court. If no one comes forward to claim him, the child will either be handed over to the Edhi Foundation or National Institute of Child Health, he said.



"We have to first search for his parents as it could be possible that someone kidnapped him and later threw him," said Saddar SHO Tufail Ahmed. The officer said the police was also looking for CCTV footage to get clues and have asked the hospital to provide record of all babies born recently. When contacted, Edhi Foundation director Faisal Edhi said, "We will adopt the newborn if the JPMC administration contacts us."



Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2016.