26 April 1999 MEDIA RELEASE DOCTORS FOR LIFE EXECUTIVE MEMBER AND SPECIALIST PHYSICIAN SAVE ABANDONED BABY FROM PIT TOILET On Friday an 18-year-old girl presented with vaginal bleeding at a remote rural hospital where she was attended to by a specialist physician, who is a member of Doctors For Life. On examination she was found to have a 2nd degree tear of the perineum. The signs indicated that she had delivered only hours before arrival at the hospital. There were also indications that the baby must have been big enough to either be full term or close to full term. Even though the girl was questioned about the where abouts of the baby, she totally denied that she had delivered a baby. This made the doctor deeply concerned because if the child was still alive it was in grave danger of dying from exposure or dehydration. The girl continued to deny that she had had a child and only said that she had passed something in the local school toilet. Meanwhile she was attended to and the tear was sutured. Finally, in desperation, it was decided that the help of the police should be called, in order to locate and try and save the life of the child if it was still alive. After consulting with the grandmother who accompanied the girl, the police were contacted. The grandmother said the girl had been in Durban until about 4 months ago (up until when she was about five months pregnant) and that she had suspected the girl to be pregnant. At that stage the grandmother decided to go back home to go and look for the baby in the pit toilet at home. Meanwhile the doctor and a nurse proceeded to the police station in order to pick up a torch. From there they intended to drive 10km to the girl’s school in order to look for the baby in the school pit latrine. While waiting for the police at the police station, an uncle of the girl came running to them saying that they had heard a baby crying in the toilet. They immediately left for the house. On arrival, a few people had already gathered around the toilet. They shone the torch down the toilet and could see a baby girl, lying on her back and waving her arms and kicking in the air. The seat of the toilet was removed and the doctor had to climb down into the toilet to reach the baby, after which he handed her to the nursing sister. The baby girl was found to be in good condition except for scratch marks around the neck. The whole exercise from the time the mother presented at the hospital, up until they reached the child, took about 3 hours. The baby has now been admitted to the hospital where she is on a drip and being treated with intravenous antibiotics - she appears to be well and in a stable condition. For more information contact: Dr A. van Eeden at: (031) 764-0443 |
| You are viewing this
page from one of the Doctors For Life web sites. To return to the site you
were visiting, close this window. All Materials ©2004 Doctors For Life International unless otherwise noted. |