A baby with birth defects who was abandoned by his parents but miraculously survived will be discharged from the hospital at the weekend, but where he will go worries many Chinese.
On April 20, a young mother from a village in Tiandong County of Baise City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, gave birth to a baby boy with a cleft lip. Persuaded by family relatives, the parents agreed to abandon the baby.
Their relatives paid a man 1,800 yuan (about 290 U.S. dollars) to "deal with" the baby. The man placed him into a cardboard box and deserted it on a hill near the village.
Two days later, the man came to the site, believing him dead and buried the baby in a nearby cemetery. After another eight days, the infant was found alive by a woman picking herbs after she heard his cries from underground.
"It was a miracle that the infant could survive," said Wu Weili, a pediatrist with the People's Hospital in Tiandong County. "It is almost impossible for an adult to survive in the wilderness after ten days without food and water."
Wu said the baby was in a critical condition when he was sent to hospital. "His mouth was full of mud and he had bruises on face, back hands and feet."
Xinhua reporters saw the infant on Wednesday at hospital. He was flailing his arms and legs and was able to suck milk.
According to the police, five people including the boy's grandmothers have been detained on suspicion of intentional homicide. His parents are out on bail over alleged baby abandonment. Further investigation is under way.
A nurse told Xinhua that his mother and grandpa came to the hospital for the first time on Tuesday afternoon.
"The mother was choked with sobs when she saw the baby," the nurse said, adding that the parents wrote a letter of apology in which they promised not to hurt the boy and wanted to bring him home.
This case is very special, said Zhou Liying, head of the county's civil affairs bureau. No decision on the case has yet been made by authorities. Perhaps they will send the child to a social welfare institution for the time being.
"We worry that the baby's parents may hurt him again. Even though they will not, this tragedy may haunt the family and affect the boy's mental health," Zhou said.
Infant abandonments are not rare in China, especially if the babies have birth defects and the family cannot afford medical care.
"But I still can't believe parents can abandon their own babies. Cleft lip and palate are treatable and many public interest organizations would like to provide funds for those kids," Wu Weili said.
Wu said the Chinese Red Cross Foundation and SmileAngel Foundation have already taken notice of the boy and may provide help.
A hospital from Guangxi also said they would like to conduct an operation for him when he reaches three months old and has a weight of more than six kilograms.
In order to reduce such tragedies in the future, Wu suggested women of childbearing age go through pre-pregnancy checks and prenatal screening tests.
"This way, the risk of carrying a baby with certain birth defects could be reduced," said Wu.
In addition, there are still rural parents who give up their own babies for fear that medical costs will put the family into poverty. "The medical aid system needs to be further improved and parents should learn more about the law," a comment by user "Zhiranran" said on microblog Sina Weibo.
Parents need to respect their children's life once they give life to them. "The boy was strong enough to survive and I believe he will be strong enough to face his parents and this world in the future," said another user "Yangzhengfeng".
