A two-week-old baby girl was born to 25-year-old Mamata Dode during her 7 month of pregnancy. The baby, who isn’t named yet, was only 800 grams upon delivery and was born with a rare wrinkly skin disorder. Because of this, the infant’s mother refused to neither feed her nor visit her at the hospital. However, her paternal grandfather Dilip Dode is willing to look after her despite her condition
Mr. Dode reported that the couple were expecting a healthy child like their older daughter Payal, now three years old. Everything seemed to be normal; they were not informed of any problems during the prenatal checks.
But they were horrified when the baby was born unusually wrinkly all over.
Words soon spread among the villagers. Their relatives and the villagers gathered to see the baby. Some ran away in fear as soon as they did while others did not want to hold her as they fear they might catch her disease.
Consequently, the baby mother was embarrassed to have given birth to the child and abandoned her. Even the baby’s father Ajay Dode, also 25, did not want to accept the tiny tot.
But his granddad knew it was not the baby fault so he started taking care of her. Therefore, Mr. Dode fed her goat milk from a spoon for two weeks.
The child’s grandfather brought her to a hospital in Mumbai some 138 kilometers away from their village. He is grateful that the hospital responded to the need of the child and has given her free medical services.
He believes that the child’s condition is not her fault and he only wishes for her to get better and live a normal life. If convincing them would not make them accept the child, Mr. Dode will raise her up himself.
“It is not her fault to have been born different and I will not throw her for her disease.” Mr. Dode remarked.
The cost of the child’s treatment is expected to be around 500,000 Rupees (£5,000). Wadia Hospital in Mumbai agreed to meet this cost and has also arranged for accommodation in the premises for Mr. Dode to stay.
Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, hospital CEO said that the baby was severely dehydrated when brought to the hospital and any delay would have been proven fatal. Now, the baby is responding to treatment and recuperating. She suspects that this is a case of Intra-uterine Growth Retardation (IUGR) and some chromosomal abnormality. But not until they get the full results of the laboratory tests, they couldn’t tell the real problem. As soon as test results come in, they will diagnose and give the treatment protocol. Dr. Bodhanwala said that they are determined to treat the child.
“We are going to do Karyotyping on her today and the results will come after 15 days and only the tests will determine what exactly is wrong with her and whether the condition is genetic or not.
The baby is expected to stay in the hospital for a longer time.
H/T: Mirror
