Call for Papers : Volume 11, Issue 03, March 2024, Open Access; Impact Factor; Peer Reviewed Journal; Fast Publication

Perspective on newborn abandonment in relation to gender: a single centre report

Son preference and its implication for skewed sex ratio is well documented phenomenon in India. The ways embraced to have son preference would be sex selection abortion, female infanticide and abandoning the female new born. Aims: To see effect of PCPNDT act over abandoned babies and various factor associated with abandoned babies. Study design: Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Methodology: Study was conducted in Government Medical College and Hospital, Akola, and Lady Harding District Hospital for women, Akola (Maharashtra, India). The information regarding abandoned babies was collected from the records of Neonatal intensive care units of both hospitals. All abandoned babies who were admitted in NICU of both hospitals from 1 January, 2003 to 31 December, 2014, were included in study (total duration 12 years). Result: From year 2003 to 2014 in total 69 babies were abandoned (rescued), out of 69 abandoned babies 32 were males and 37 were females. Difference between gender of abandoned Childs and implementation of PCPNDT was found statistically significant. Of all babies 2 had injuries and 2 had congenital anomaly. During hospital stay none of babies were claimed by parent or relatives. Conclusion: It becomes obvious that when the choice sex selection before birth ends, then societies is forced to get rid of females by abandoning them as one of the options, though gender selection of any form should be discouraged. The findings of abandoning more females should be investigated further to uncover possible reasons for the bias.

Author: 
Warthe Vinit, Garg Paridhi, Aggarwal Sumit, and Pragya Wadle
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