BENGALURU: The staff of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) are used to handling cases that could be moving, disturbing or complicated. But on Tuesday, even the most experienced officials were left stumped.
A parent called on the commission to ask if he could give up his six-day-old child. The reason: she suffers from a neurological problem.
The girl was born on Saturday in a private hospital at R.T. Nagar. The father, S.S. Manjunath, said that the lower part of her body is paralysed. “We already have a son. We do not have the means to take care of the baby,” he said.
Kripa Alva, chairperson of the commission, spent close to an hour trying to counsel the father to keep the child. “When he did not relent, I called three adoption centres, officials from the Department of Women and Child Development and also spoke to the Disabilities Commissioner. All of them expressed their helplessness in stepping in when the parents are still around,” she said.
On Wednesday, Ms. Alva issued an order to the parents directing them not to abandon the child and sought a weekly update on her health. The Commission later got in touch with the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health Hospital (IGICHH) and asked them to provide treatment to the child.
Asha Benkappa, director of IGICHH, said that the child suffers from thoracolumbar meningomyelocele. The hospital is seeking the opinion of various doctors to chalk out the course of treatment. “The legs of the child are paralysed. If we do not operate on her, the chances of survival are bleak. Even if the child is operated on, she may continue to have severe disability,” she said.
