Shocking! Newborn Baby Girl With Placenta Attached Found Stuffed In Drainage Pipe At Puri Hospital

In a heart wrenching incident, a newborn baby girl, with the placenta cord attached, was found stuffed inside the drainage pipe of a toilet on the fourth floor of the Mother and Child Care building of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Puri on Thursday morning.

The infant was rescued and immediately admitted to the Sick Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) of the hospital for treatment. The condition of the baby is stated to be critical.

As per reports, the discovery of the baby was made by a sweeper at the hospital when he went to check the clogged drainage pipe of the toilet. To his horror, he found the newborn stuffed in it. He immediately pulled her out and informed the hospital officials following which the newborn was rushed to the emergency department.

However, the hospital authorities are yet to identify the mother of the newborn while the circumstances under which the baby was packed inside the drainage pipe of the toilet is still not clear.

Doctors at the hospital suspect it could be a premature baby and said the mother might have delivered during six months and 15 days of her pregnancy.

Dr Surjya Narayan Mishra, incharge of the SNCU, said, “The baby is in a critical condition and having trouble in breathing. Though the heart beat rate is normal, the saturation level is low.”

He added, “The infant was found with the placenta cord attached and it seems she was born today. The sweeper went to check the clogged drainage pipe line of the washroom. On checking, he found the baby stuffed inside the pipe,” said the doctor.

Mishra said the woman might have delivered the baby somewhere outside the hospital and dumped the baby in the toilet’s drainage pipe or she might have suffered labour pain when she came to the hospital for treatment and delivered the baby in the toilet and left.

He said it is possible that the woman did not inform any hospital staff about her pregnancy, or she was in labour by the time she reached the hospital. "Otherwise, she would have been noticed by someone in the hospital,” added Mishra.

Meanwhile, Childline officials of the district have rushed to the hospital after receiving the information from the Police Outpost of the DHH and started a probe into the incident. 

“The baby is in a critical condition. She's under treatment now. Her oxygen level is still low. We reached the hospital after receiving the complaint. The identity of the family members of the newborn is yet to be ascertained,” informed Yasoda Swain, a Childline  Counsellor.