In a shocking incident of suspected female foeticide has been uncovered in the premises of St. John’s Medical College. The two separate incidents happened on 1st October and 5th October but came to light now.
One fetus around 5 months old was found stuffed inside the commode in a public toilet near the emergency ward. The other fetus was found in the sanitation treatment plant’s tank.
The Koramangala Police are taking action and two separate cases have been registered under section 318 (concealment of birth by disposing the dead body.)
An officer at Koramangala Police reported, “One of the babies did not have a portion of its brain. Doctor’s at St John’s itself conducted a medical test and said that it was a condition seen in some babies. The other baby was normal. We are looking through CCTV footage and also obtained a list of all pregnant women who visited the hospital between October 1 and 5.”
The Associate Medical Superintendent of St John’s Hospital, Dr. Sanjiv Lewin explained, “Our hospital policy is against performing abortions. If any patient visiting St John’s wants to medically terminate the pregnancy, the patient is referred to other hospitals. This could not have happened in our hospital.”
He further added, “Both the fetuses were dead for over 48 hours when they were found and we immediately reported it to the police. Autopsies were also conducted.”
Dr. Lewin also said, “Our policy is called ‘respect for life.’ No doctor in our hospital here is allowed to medically terminate pregnancies. No loss of pregnancy occurred in the hospital when these incidents came to light. We have shared the list of mothers who visited the hospital between October 1 and 5 with the police.”
The doctor also explained that as long as the patient is in the hospital they can be monitored but once they are in the public parts of the hospital nothing can be done.
Dr. Lewin further explained that the toilet and the sanitation treatment plant are both accessible to the general public and added, “It could have been anyone. The babies’ DNA has been tested the police are investigating the case.”
