[Pietermaritzburg 11 September 2011 13:30]
ER24 Pietermaritzburg crews have saved the life of a newborn baby after it was allegedly dumped in a toilet on Retief Street.
The call was placed for a baby that was inside a toilet and when the paramedics arrived at the scene they were taken to where the woman had allegedly given birth in one of the toilet cubicles at a surgery rooms. The amount of blood around the toilet was indicative that this may have been where the baby was borne. They opened the toilet and were horrified to find the newborn inside the toilet bowl, head and arms first in the water. The baby’s legs were sticking upwards and the child was squirming around.
Paramedics immediately pulled the child from the toilet bowl and rushed it to where the ambulance was waiting nearby. The baby was struggling to breath and needed to be warmed up. They quickly cleared the baby’s mouth and nose and gave it some supplemental oxygen all the while warming it while it was wrapped in a thick blanket. Not long after, the baby’s condition started to improve and the child started to cry.
The little girl was taken to Northdale Hospital for further assessment where she was taken to the Paediatric ICU to be kept under observation, but thanks to paramedic’s quick thinking the baby was in a stable condition.
The police attended the scene and will investigate the incident.
Vanessa Jackson, ER24