Galiba Hayat, the first child of district cricket team player Najmul Huda and his advocate wife Naznin Akhter, was born on 22 September, Thursday in Faridpur, about 140 kms from the Bangladeshi capital.
Around 12:00 am, Naznin gave birth to the girl in the doctor’s room while waiting, after being refused due to unavailability of bed. Two hours after her birth, around 2 am, doctors at the hospital pronounced her dead.
Abul Kalam Mia, the grandfather of the child, alleges the kid was kept inside a carton on the hospital floor.
Heartbroken, Kalam took the baby to Faridpur Municipality Graveyard for a burial at night. The caretaker of the graveyard asked her relatives to return on Friday morning for the burial and the ‘presumed’ dead newborn spent the night in a carton at the graveyard.
The next morning, Imam Abdur Rob while reciting from the Quran before the burial, asked Kalam to open the carton.
As I opened the carton, the kid cried out. I then untied its hands and legs.Abdul Kalam Mia, the grandfather of the child, speaking to The Daily Star
Good Samaritan Comes Forward to Save the Day
Immediately, she was rushed to a nearby local hospital. Faridpur Sadar Hospital Head of Paediatrics, Dr Khondokar Mohamed Abdullah advised that the baby be taken to Dhaka for proper treatment but only after her condition stabilised.
Doctors had referred her [Naznin] to Dhaka on Thursday itself but we could not do so owing to financial condition. On Saturday, a person who is unwilling to reveal his identity expressed his desire to bear the cost of her treatment and arranged for her to be taken to Dhaka’s Square Hospital by helicopter.Abdul Kalam Mia
Solaiman Shukhon, the head of marketing at Aamra Networks Ltd, posted on Facebook that he arranged for the helicopter on behalf of a businessman friend in Hungary who wishes to stay anonymous. The baby was flown to Dhaka at 7:45 pm on Saturday, and is now in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital.
“The newborn is in a serious condition as she was born 24 weeks into the pregnancy and weighs 700 grams. So, she was sent for intensive care treatment to Dhaka. If she gets good care, good results may be expected,” said Dr Abdullah.
After the news spread, people turned out in large numbers to wish speedy recovery for the ‘miracle baby’.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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