Where will she go from here?

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Date: December 4, 2005


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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury and Wahida Mitu

The baby smiled, though in deep slumber. A pipe is passed through her nostrils, but she is free to dream - dream of a wonderful future that may lie before her. But alas...what has fate in store for her?

What cruelty would prompt one to throw away a newborn child!

Uncertainty fills the air as Social Welfare Department (SWD) authorities of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) are confused with the decision of handing over the responsibility of the baby to anyone willing to take care of the child as one's own. This decision however, will be made after the child has completely recuperated.

"The baby is stable but is still not out of danger," said AKM Mizanur Rahman, Assistant Registrar, Paediatric Surgery ward, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Why? Rahman said the little girl had been buried in the sand for a long time. The sand and germs, usually carried by crows, are liable to infect her with Septicaemia (a serious illness in which an infection spreads through the blood) at any time.

The infant was rescued from a flock of crows, buried under a pile of sand, a few weeks back.

About a dozen crows pecked at the face of the baby girl; most of her body was hidden in a sand field near the Hazaribagh Boubazar area on November 17. Rescuers dug the baby out and rushed her to the DMCH, where doctors immediately performed surgery on her.

Doctors from the departments of Paediatrics and Plastic Surgery are taking care of her. Worried about her complete recovery from current condition, they are trying hard to keep her stable.

"The infant is in need of long-term treatment to enable her to undergo further surgery," said Dr. Md. Shah Alam Talukder, Associate Professor, Department of Paediatric Surgery, DMCH. "Unless she regains physical normalcy, we cannot operate on her further," he added.

"We have now become very attached to the child, that we will not give up until we are convinced that we have done our best for her," said Dr. Talukder.

"Half of the girl's right cheek and lower part of the left leg were eaten up by preying crows," said the Ward 35 Nurse-on-duty.

Plastic surgeons will be able to work on bringing her distorted cheek and leg to normal only after she completely recovers physically, said Rahman, adding that they may not be able to bring back her original appearance.

The hospital authorities engaged Minu -- an attendant from the time the child was admitted to the DMCH, to take care of her.

"The baby sleeps, through the day and starts crying at night," said Minu. "Seems like she is longing to be cradled in her mother's bosom," the attendant added.

The child is surrounded by 60 to 100 visitors daily, with most of them interested in adopting her.

"Requests flow in from interested couples, families and individuals daily to let them adopt the baby," said the on-duty nurse.

Her long list of potential adopters includes a minister and his wife and some foreigners.

The nurse also said some ladies who came to adopt the baby, created a scene later as their pleas were refused.

"We do not give any child admitted to DMCH for adoption," said Firoja Begum, an officer of SWD. "We usually hand them over to the government orphanage," she added.

"People can adopt children from private orphanages, not from state owned homes," she said.

So those interested in the adoption of the child have no ray of hope of getting her.