Nidhi shifted to child care institute

Abandoned premature baby Nidhi, born at Ernakulam GH, undergoes transformation and awaits adoption as parents remain missing.

When her mother gave birth to her prematurely just 28 weeks into pregnancy at the Ernakulam General Hospital (GH) and then went missing soon afterwards in January, she was just an abandoned and underweight baby girl without even a name.

In the nine weeks since then, she has been transformed from an anaemic baby of mere 950 grams to a relatively healthy one weighing 2.50 kilograms and even received a name, Nidhi, given by Veena George, Minister for Health and Women and Child Development.

With her parents from Jharkhand still missing, the hospital handed over Nidhi’s custody to District Child Protection Officer K.S. Sini in the presence of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Chairperson Vincent Joseph on Thursday. She has since been moved to a child care institute in the city.

“We will wait for a reasonable period to track down her parents. The City police have also registered a case. If the parents are traced and found to be fit to parent, the child will be handed over to them. If not, she will be declared legally free for adoption, and her details will be fed into the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, the online portal for adoption,” said Ms. Sini.

Nidhi will be made legally free for adoption either as an abandoned or a surrendered child entailing two different formalities. The CWC will declare her legally free as an abandoned child if her parents fail to approach even after a reasonable period of around two months since notifying her details in newspapers. In the case of surrender, the parents will have to execute a surrender deed.

Nidhi’s mother was rushed to GH when she developed labour pain when the train reached Ernakulam while on her way to Jharkhand along with her husband on January 29. They worked at a fish farm in Kottayam. Soon after delivery, the baby was shifted to a private hospital in the city for specialised care. However, the parents went missing soon after the mother was discharged. Subsequently, the baby was shifted back to GH.

“She was put on a treatment protocol drawn up by a medical board since then. She was fed through expressing breast milk and was put on an incubator and oxygen support. Since she was anaemic, we also gave her blood transfusions. Multivitamins and antibiotics were also administered,” said Dr. Shahir Shah, Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. V.S. Vineetha, Dr. V. Viji, and a team of nurses took care of the baby.