Date : 25-03-2015
Mangalore: After the parents of a new-born baby boy, born premature, assumed it to be dead, the grieving parents headed straight to Chembugudde burial ground, on Saturday August 23.
A pit was readied for the newborn baby and the burial rituals got under way with the grief-stricken parents Gowri and Pushparaj from Kumpala, following procedures mechanically.
As per the Hindu tradition, the family members wetted the child’s lips with milk, to the surprise the couple and their relatives, the baby stirred.
The crowd, gushing over the “miraculous rebirth”, rushed the baby to another private hospital in the city. Currently, the baby has been kept in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU).
The incident
Gowri, residing in Kumpala on the city’s outskirts, was admitted to a private hospital in Deralakatte on August 15.
She delivered a baby boy on the following day, as the baby was born premature; it was kept in a ventilator. However on Saturday, doctors at the hospital gave up hope over the baby’s recovery.
Initially, Praveen Kumpala, brother-in-law of the baby’s father alleged that the hospital blundered in entrusting the case to interns. He said they had spent Rs 70,000 on the baby and wanted the hospital to be pulled up to ensure such incidents do not recur.
Hospital’s version
According to the hospital, the child was premature and was kept on the ventilator but never declared dead.
Giving out details the hospital officials said, that the child was born in 6 and a half months and the recovery was very slow thus kept in an incubator with life support.
However the parents of the child urged the doctors to take the baby home, on which the doctor informed them that the baby is critical and detaching him for life support was not advisable.
Paying no heed to the doctor’s advice, Pushparaj took the baby home at his own risk as well as signed the papers before taking the child.
Moreover the hospital has clarified, that the parents assumed the baby dead and did not even bother to check-up, a death certificate was also not obtained by the parents, the hospital staff said.
