Mother abandons week-old baby outside hospital

HUYE - A 5-7 days old baby girl was, Thursday evening, found wrapped in a bag left at Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB)’s garden. The child was then admitted at the hospital where she is undergoing treatment. According to eyewitnesses, the baby was found at around 7pm with no caretaker in sight. By press time, investigations in the matter were underway. “I was going to respond to nature’s call when I heard a baby crying. I approached and saw a multicoloured bag. The baby was inside. I immediately alerted other patients who were around and we called doctors who arrived and took the baby,” narrated Bernadette Kankindi, 70, a patient at the hospital. “The bag was entirely zipped but had a hole, may be to help the child breath,” the old woman said.Alfred Kwizera, a paediatrics intern who received the child at the hospital told The Sunday Times that the child’s health is stable. “We immediately conducted examinations to evaluate her situation. We found that apart from being abandoned, she had no serious health problem. We administered medicine to prevent any possible infection, and up to now she is okay”, Kwizera said. According to the hospital management, it is working with the district to find a place for the child. “The district always helps us to get the orphanage to take care of abandoned children,” said Jean Marie Vianney Ngamije, the director of Human Resource and Administration at CHUB. Ends