‘Baby Hatch not to encourage baby dumping’
KUCHING: In the first case of baby dumping in Sarawak this year, the body of a deceased new- born girl was found at the dumpster of a flat complex in Muara Tabuan here on April 11.
Cases of baby dumping are not new to the state, as a total of 10 such cases were reported to the police last year.
As part of efforts to help reduce the number of baby abandoned in unsafe places, Kuching Specialist Hospital took the initiative to set up the state’s first ‘ Baby Hatch’ earlier this year.
However, Kuching Specialist Hospital general manager Nurhazimah Mahat emphasised that the setting up of the Baby Hatch is not to encourage baby dumping.
Instead, she explained, the Baby Hatch only provides an option for parents, particularly unwed mothers who have no one to turn to for help, to place their babies instead of abandoning them in the drain or dumpster.
“Our main objective of setting up the Baby Hatch is just to save the life of the baby, that’s all,” she said in an interview yesterday. The Baby Hatch project is one of the corporate social responsibility ( CSR) projects of the hospitals under KPJ Healthcare.
Nurhazimah said once the baby is placed in the Baby Hatch, the parent is required to leave details of the baby such as his/ her religion on a paper provided.
“Once the baby is in the Baby Hatch, the alarm inside the A& E unit will trigger. The staff on duty 24 hours will know that there is a baby inside the Baby Hatch. But we will give time to the parent to settle everything before we collect the baby.
“Once the door of the Baby Hatch is closed, it will automatically be locked because we are using a motion sensor system. It cannot be opened again until a certain period of time when the system has been reset.
“We have also installed a closed- circuit television facing towards the baby and not towards the parent because we don’t want to know his/ her ( parent’s) identity. We just want to monitor the condition of the baby when he/she is left in our Baby Hatch and to ensure that the door is closed before we collect the baby from inside.”
Our main objective of setting up the Baby Hatch is just to save the life of the baby, that’s all.
She said it is only after the Baby Hatch door is closed and locked that the staff will open the door from inside to collect the baby from the Baby Hatch.
“Before anything is done to the baby, we will have to take picture of the baby with his/her original belongings for documentation process. After that, we will bring the baby for medical examination by a medical officer at the A& E unit and paediatrician in the hospital.
“During that time, we will also inform our management, the police and child protector from the state Welfare Department.”
To a question, Nurhazimah said the authorities will not trace the parents who left the baby in the Baby Hatch, as “they don’t want to know who the parents of the baby are. So, they are only focusing on the baby”.
“Even if the baby left in our Baby Hatch is dead, they will not trace the parents because once the baby is put in our Baby Hatch, we don’t want to know who the parents are.”
Nurhazimah said the babies left at the Baby Hatch can be categorised under one of the three conditions; namely normal, ill and dead.
She said if the baby is normal, the baby will be examined by the paediatrician and warded in the hospital while waiting for the state Welfare Department’s child protector to obtain a court order to take custody of the baby.
She added that any process of adoption is not done in the hospital, as it is all under the purview of the state Welfare Department.
Nurhazimah said if the baby left in the Baby Hatch is abnormal or ill, the baby will be stabilised and examined by the paediatrician and be referred to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), after the hospital management, police and child protector are informed.
“The baby will be accompanied to SGH by the child protector and our hospital staff nurse. Once they arrive at the SGH, the One Stop Crisis Centre will be activated. They have their own processes.”
She said if the baby is already dead when he/she is left in the Baby Hatch, the doctor on duty will have to certify the baby’s death and similar process of informing the hospital management, police and state Welfare Department will have to be implemented.
Nurhazimah said so far, they have yet to receive any baby from the Baby Hatch in Kuching Specialist Hospital since it was launched.
Elsewhere in Malaysia, she said there are nine hospitals under KPJ Healthcare that have the Baby Hatch facility – eight in Peninsular Malaysia and one in Sabah.
“So far, only our hospital in Ipoh has received a case. The rest ( of the Baby Hatches) have yet to receive any baby and we have been operating this project over the past three years.”
Also present during the interview were Kuching Specialist Hospital’s chief nursing officer Catherine Pung and her deputy Prema Maniam and the hospital’s A& E Unit manager Pamela Amban.
Nurhazimah Mahat, Kuching Specialist Hospital general manager