Parents leaving kids in hospitals

dubai — there are parents who refuse to take back their children — some premature — from hospitals even after completing their treatment. reason: there’s nobody to take care of them at home.

according to the dubai police, the women and children protection department has handled 29 cases of parents abandoning their children in the hospital during the first six months of this year.

rashid al hali, director of the women and children protection department, said that the reaction has come across a number of cases in which parents evading their responsibility to take back their children from hospitals, while leaving them there for months.

some of the hospitals requested the intervention of the human rights department, because the children needed care and attention of their parents after recovery.

fatima al kindi, head of the social support section of the women and children protection department, said three children were left by their parents recently in the hospital for more than two months after their full recovery.

she pointed out that parents were contacted in these cases. while holding a number of sessions with the guardians, it was found that the mother needed to go to work and there was no one to take care of the child during her absence.

therefore, they left the child with the hospital as long as they could do, as they were sure that the hospital would provide them full care. there were also mothers who did not know how to deal with a premature child.

she said that in one of the cases, the child was two years old. he was admitted to the intensive care, and remained in the hospital for over two months until he recovered completely. although the parents visited the child daily, they refused to take him back after recovery as they wanted him to stay in the hospital because the mother was a working woman.

Various cases

al hali said most of the cases dealt by the department were that of negligence by parents (37 per cent) followed by physical assault (24 per cent). he pointed out that 31 per cent of the cases were reported through a complaint by mothers.

hali added that 41 per cent of the affected children were aged between 1 and 5 years, 35 per cent between 6-10 and 24 per cent were aged 11 years and above. he said that in 48 per cent of the cases, the father was to be blamed for the child’s plight. he said that while resolving the problem, a written undertaking was sought from the father that he would not violate children’s right. in 31 per cent of the cases, the father signed a pledge not to neglect them. fourteen per cent of the cases were referred to police stations to book the offender — of negligence or physical violence.

amira@khaleejtimes.com

In one of the cases, the child was two years old. Although the parents visited the child daily, they refused to take him back after recovery as the mother was a working woman.” Rashid Al Hali, director, women and children protection department