KOTA KINABALU: Government hospitals and private medical centres in Sabah should consider setting up baby hatches to curb baby dumping and saving innocent newborns.
Sabah Umno Wanita Chief Senator Datuk Noraini Idris said this could stop mothers abandoning their babies in unsafe areas that could expose them to danger.
She said there was no baby hatch in any of the hospitals in the State, so far.
“I made my own research and found out that the first and only baby hatch in Sabah was set up by KPJ Damai Specialist Hospital in 2014.
Two years later, this only baby hatch received its first baby on April 12, 2016.
“The abandoned baby girl weighed about 3.5kg and was dropped into the hospital’s baby hatch box with its umbilical cord still attached. This proved that having the baby hatch was useful.
“We need to have these baby hatch boxes set up in hospitals, starting this year as it is a secure facility that provides safety features for the abandoned babies and also an alternative for the mothers to drop their unwanted newborns without being penalised.
Three baby dumping cases were reported in a week this June.On June 10, the paper reported that an individual found the body of a newborn floating in waters near Kg Tg Aru Lama with its umbilical cords still attached.
Two days later (June 12), a villager came across an abandoned newborn on top of a chicken coop in Kg Jawa, Lahad Datu.
In the third case, a newborn baby was left naked under a house in Kg Sapat, Papar on June 13 by a 52-year-old house owner after hearing incessant cries at about 4am.
Noraini, who is also Sabah Women’s Advisory Council (MPWS) Law Committee Chairperson, said having three baby dumping cases in a week is a worrying situation which showed baby dumping in Sabah is quite serious.
She said those three cases were probably just a tip of the iceberg as these were reported incidents of abandoning babies and found by responsible people who reported such inhumane discovery.
She said such incidents suggest that the mothers may have been suffering from mental trauma due to chronic family financial problems or it could be the mother is a rape or incest victim that makes it difficult for her to take care of the baby.
“Or the trauma of facing society’s acceptance of her and the baby she gave birth to,” she said.
Noraini, a lawyer, said it is not a crime to drop a baby in the baby hatch because it is a facility that will keep the baby safe from any harm and threats and his or her life will be protected.
However, she said mothers who dump her newborns in unsafe areas have committed a crime under a section of the Penal Code that carries a jail term as the punishment, upon conviction.
— Hayati Dzulkifli
Add Comment