Throat slit & dumped in bin, newborn makes miraculous recovery after a month at hospital
BHOPAL: They named her Pihu. When she wails, it’s music to their ears. A month ago, when the newborn was brought to them in a little blood-soaked bundle, her throat slit, they cried. On Friday, they cradled the little one and celebrated her new birth.
Little Pihu will live.
According to police, Pihu’s grandmother had slit her throat and dumped her in a trash bin in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh town soon after her birth. Her mother and the granny have since been arrested and charged with attempted murder and abandonment.
Thanks to tireless efforts of doctors and nurses at Bhopal’s Kamla Nehru Hospital, Pihu survived. The cut in her neck was deep but miraculously missed vital veins and arteries. Surgeons sutured her cuts and repaired blood vessels in multiple surgeries. Over the past month, the little one was never left alone, not even for a moment. Like the medics, the baby didn’t give up.
A month later, doctors declared her out of danger and discharged her on Friday.
On Jan 11, passersby found a newborn abandoned in a dustbin in Rajgarh district, around 100km from Bhopal. Blood was still pouring from her slit throat. Locals informed cops, who rushed the baby to district hospital and then brought her to Bhopal.
“It took us more than a month. She had severe injuries, but she braved it and survived,” said Dr Dheerendra Shrivastav, HOD, Kamla Nehru Hospital. “We handed her over to a shelter home in Rajgarh with permission of Child Welfare Committee,” he added. “This is the third such case in the past few months. We named one of the girls Khushi, and this infant Pihu.”
For the past four years, MP has recorded the highest number of baby abandonments in the country. At least one infant was dumped every second day in the state during this period. Most die – some are eaten by dogs and wild animals, while others die from exposure. As per 2022 NCRB report, 175 newborns were abandoned or thrown into bushes after birth in MP and 174 cases were registered – highest in the country.