To prevent abandoning of newborns, the Department of Women and Child Welfare on Tuesday opened “Mamateya Tottilu” (cradle of motherhood), a cradle, at the Government Lady Goschen Hospital here. This is the second such cradle in the district and the first one to be started by the government.
Women, who give birth and are not in a position to take care of their children, can make use of this cradle at the Special Treatment Unit in the hospital. Mothers can leave their children in the cradle and the department will take the responsibility of taking care of them. Such mothers will not be booked.
Deputy Director of Women and Child Welfare Sundara Poojary said that children left in the cradle will be given initial treatment and then moved to the Special Adoption Centre managed by Ramakrishna Sevasharama in Puttur for care.
A paper notification will be published asking the mothers’/children’s relatives to take custody of the child. If none came forward in two months from the date of publication of the notification, the child will be given for adoption as per orders of the Child Welfare Committee, he said.
Mr. Poojary said that a similar cradle has been placed by the Ramakrishna Sevashrama at the Special Adoption Centre in Puttur.
Also, a cradle has been kept at the Special Adoption Centre in Udupi, Mr. Poojary added.
Mr. Poojary said that there have been cases of abandoning of newborns that has caused harm to the young. A month ago, a newborn, with tumour on its head, was abandoned on the banks of the Nethravati in Kanyady village near Dharmasthala. The child was brought to the Child Development and Protection Officer to the Regional Advanced Paediatric Care Centre of the Government Wenlock Hospital where it died a few days into treatment. A three-year-old physically disabled child was recently abandoned at a luggage room in Dharmasthala and it is now undergoing treatment at the Regional Advanced Paediatric Care Centre, he said.
An official from the Government Lady Goschen Hospital said that around 10 babies are abandoned by their mothers every year at the hospital. These babies are sent to the Ramakrishna Sevashrama in Puttur for care, she said.
