Woman abandons newly born baby

Not even the offer by the nurses at the hospital to cancel the debt of GH¢200 if the mother could not afford the hospital bills could convince the new mother and her mother not to leave the poor baby behind.

Dr. Mahama, a Mamprusi, has named the baby Azumah, a name reserved by Mamprusis for boys born on Friday.

He has also lodged a formal complaint at the Atomic Police Station and alerted the Osu Children's Home to Little Azumah's predicament.

The young woman, who is well-built and dark in complexion, gave her name as Faisa Seidu of Nima in Accra.

 According to Dr. Mahama, Faisa, who had initially given her age as 25 but later changed it to 27, had called at his hospital, together with her mother, last Friday morning and complained of diarrhoea.

He said Faisa later complained of dizziness and later passed out.

 Dr Mahama said after he had resuscitated her, the nurses ran a series of tests on her, during which she was found to be pregnant.

He said Faisa denied being pregnant and requested to attend the call of nature, adding that it was in the process of attending to the call of nature that she went into labour.

He said on hearing that her daughter was pregnant, Faisai’s mother was said to have wailed uncontrollably, saying her daughter had disgraced her.

He said after the nurses had assisted Faisa to deliver the baby safely, she (Faisa) tried to put the baby into a plastic bag when no one was around.

He said Faisa and her mother left the hospital without taking the baby away and refused to see Dr. Mahama when he requested to see them.

Dr Mahama appealed to young mothers not to adopt crude methods to get rid of their unwanted babies when they delivered them but rather liaise with hospitals so that proper adoption procedures could be undertaken for their unwanted babies.

Story by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho