An NGO in Malaysia has opened the country’s first “baby hatch” for rescuing unwanted newborns, reports said on Sunday, as authorities battle increasing cases of abandoned babies.
Modelled on similar services in Germany, Pakistan and Japan, the NGO says the facility will allow mothers to leave their babies anonymously at its premises in Petaling Jaya, in Malaysia’s central Selangor state.
The hatch has a small door which opens to an incubator bed on which a mother can place her baby. Once the door is closed an alarm bell will alert the NGO’s staff to the baby’s presence, after the mother has left. Women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil told a local newspaper that the service, to be offered by the NGO OrphanCARE, would give desperate mothers an alternative to abandoning or killing their babies.
“We must not allow ourselves to be held prisoner to the belief that baby hatches encourage premarital sex,” the New Sunday Times also quoted her as saying.
Official statistics show 407 babies were abandoned between 2005 and 2009 in Malaysia, a Southeast Asian nation with a population of 28 million people. This year a total of 24 cases were recorded as of April.
Local media in recent months have highlighted cases of newborn babies being abandoned at the roadside or in a rubbish dump.
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UK minister warned over her ‘tweets’
London : A junior British minister has been warned over posting controversial comments, including one in which she reveals doubts about her new boss and another in which she criticises a former Royal Family member, on Twitter. Home office minister Lynne Featherstone has been asked by senior British civil servants not to “write freely” about a range of bizarre and highly sensitive subjects on her website. “In common with many other ministers, Lyn-ne Featherstone has been blogging for several years. The minister is well aware of her responsibilities under the ministerial code,” a home office spokesman was quoted as saying.
In fact, in one of her postings about her boss, home secretary Theresa May, she wrote: “I know there has been a lot of concern as to Ms May’s track record on voting on LGB and T (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues — and indeed a Facebook group against her has grown to 50,000.” —PTI