GMC staff give new life, name to abandoned child

Manmeet Singh Gill

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 5

Medical staff at the Department of Paediatrics of Government Medical College has not only given a new life to a newborn child who was found abandoned at the local railway station on January 25 night but also a name — Abhishek.

Abhishek, who was lying on the platform without any clothes in the severe cold night, was spotted by railway staff. Assistant Sub Inspector, GRP, Jaspal Singh, who was the in-charge of the night shift, said: “The child was lying naked with his placenta still hanging. We called an ambulance and shifted him to a hospital.” He said it was around 9:30 pm that someone heard his cries and informed the GRP.

Dr Manmeet Sodhi, head, Department of Paediatrics, GMC, said: “The child had developed hypothermia due to cold. Besides, he had developed infections and other complications.”

After recovery, Abhishek was handed over to the ASI, Jaspal Singh, and his team which had found him. A doctor at the hospital said the child probably had took birth an hour before he was abandoned.

While providing medical care to the child was hospital’s staff’s responsibility, it did not stop here.

From arranging feed for the child to administering feed after frequent hours, arranging clothing, medicines and other things a newborn needs — all were done by the staff. Many, including Professor Ashwani Sareen, Associate Professors Dr SPS Dhillon and Narinder Singh, paramedic staff and PG students contributed in various forms to ensure safety of the child.

Talking about the story behind naming the child, Assistant Professor Sandeep Aggarwal said: “Everybody felt bad when the child had to be referred to as ‘the one who was found abandoned on the railway platform’. Hence, a postgraduate student suggested that he should be called Abhishek.”

The GRP shifted the child to the Pangoora childcare centre and a meeting of the Child Welfare Committee, to look into the welfare of the child, was conducted.