In Indian society, the girls always play second fiddle to the boys. The male child, when grown, is expected to contribute to family income whereas the girl child is always considered a "property of another" as, when married, she leaves her parental house.
Recently, a live newborn girl was found inside a large earthen pot buried three-feet under a cremation ground in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly. She was discovered by a family which had gone there to bury their still born baby.
“Our baby’s head had not fully developed. We were advised to abort it. As we went to dig a grave for the baby, our spade got stuck in a bag. As we took that out, we found a living girl inside who looked very weak and tiny. Her condition revealed that she was dumped there for days. We gave her milk with the help of cotton and got her admitted to a hospital in order to save her life. It was our duty to save this girl”, said Puja Chowdhary, who accompanied her husband Hitesh Sirohi to the cremation ground.
The infant was first admitted to District Hospital, but later, on request of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Rajesh Mishra, was shifted to Ravi Khanna New Born Critical Care Centre. Dr Ravi Khanna is personally monitoring the condition of the baby.
“She was just 1200 grams when brought here. I believe she was underneath the mother earth for 2-3 days. She was dehydrated, suffered from septicaemia and hypoglycaemia. She had no fat on her face, abdomen and thighs. Her glucose level was 4 which should not be less than 40. Her platelet count was 10,000 only. The infection had spread to every part of her body. But she had to survive and she did”, said Dr Ravi Khanna.
In order for her to be kept cosy, she is being given heat with radiant warmer. Initially, she was given IV fluids for hydration and glucose but now she is receiving IV antibiotics to clear infection from the blood and the brain.
“She is responding well to the treatment. In the last 10 days, she has gained 400 grams. This is an incredible child”, said Dr Khanna.
Significantly, BJP leader Mishra, who is paying for the medical expenses of the baby, has expressed strong keenness to adopt the child.
Meanwhile, Dr Khanna is leaving no stone unturned to educate people about the importance of girls in a society.
"We try to give financial support to every poor family that brings a girl child for checkup and treatment. I tell them about various government schemes such as 'Beti Bachao Beti Padao' (Save Girl Child, Educate Girl Child) initiative of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Girls receive financial support when they are born and they receive support at many stages of life till the time they get married. I tell them girls are assets for a family and society, and not burden as always believed. We have to get rid of primitive belief that God takes care of girl child and so parents dont need to care about her,” Dr Khanna added.
He lamented existence of thousands of villages in various states of India which had extremely poor sex ratio.
“We don’t want Uttar Pradesh to be like Haryana and Rajasthan where men are unable to find women to get married to due to poor sex ratio,” Dr Khanna stated.
A girl completes a family. A girl completes a society. Save the girl child. Save the future of humanity.
I love this
ReplyDelete