Newborn thrown into abandoned well by mother, rescued by villagers

MANDYA: A woman abandoned her newborn child, minutes after delivering it, by throwing it into an unused dry well at Chandre village in Pandavapura taluk. The male child, which was lying next to a snake amid waste, was fortunately rescued by villagers. A lactating mother even breastfed the newborn child.

Villagers rescued the child from the well.

A farmer woman who was going to her fields heard the cries of the newborn and when she looked around, she spotted the child in the 50-foot-deep well. She immediately alerted the villagers.

The child was found in the unused well.

One of the villagers got into the well using a rope and rescued the child. The women of the village immediately attended to the newborn. Fortunately, the child had survived the 50-foot drop and the snake.

The villagers then informed Dr Dayanand at the Kere Tonnur primary health centre. A medical team was immediately sent and the child was administered first aid at the Pandavapura taluk hospital. From there, the newborn was shifted to the paediatric ICU at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences.

The child is being treated at the paediatric ICU at MIMS.

The child is healthy and is responding to treatment, doctors said. After 15 days in the hospital, the child will be handed over to the Women and Child Development Department.

In a humanitarian gesture, some of the villagers from Chakre even offered to adopt and raise the child. However, health officials told them that as per regulations, it was not possible to hand over the child to them.