PEOPLE from across the country watched with baited breath as the rescue of an newborn baby girl, trapped in a storm water drain in Newlands East, Durban unfolded on social media yesterday. The public cheered as the confirmation came that she was successfully recovered from the drain pipe and air lifted to a nearby hospital.
Fortunately, the infant, who has been named Sibanisethu/Gabriella, has been given a ‘clean bill of health’.
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said the baby arrived at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital with mild hypothermia.
The trauma team had to clean her and warm her core temperature.
She was also assessed and is being treated by a team of paediatricians, and would later be transferred to another hospital, he said.
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Dhlomo added that is was nothing short of a miracle that baby Sibanisethu survived, however many other babies were sadly not so fortunate.
He said the incident has been a ‘wake up call’ to the failures of the department’s family planning programmes.
“This little one is the result of an unplanned, obviously an unwanted pregnancy resulting in a mother deciding to go and throw this baby into the storm water drain” he said.
This, he said, had fuelled the department to endevour to strengthen their campaigns on family planning.
Dhlomo urged women, who might find themselves in an unwanted pregnancy, to go to their nearest hospital where social workers would be able to advise them on their options.
Several teams of emergency services jumped into action yesterday morning at around 6.30 after a passerby heard the baby crying and alerted authorities.
After a gruelling three-hour rescue mission the baby was stabilised and transported to hospital.
The South African Police Service has opened a case of attempted murder, and no arrests have been made at this stage.
