Staffers at both Thalang Hospital and Vahira Hospital confirmed with The Phuket News on Wednesday (February 18) that the babies –a 3.7-kilogramme baby girl ditched inside a curbside trash bin in Thalang on February 6, and a 2.5kg infant boy left in a Phuket parking lot shopping cart on February 13 – have been placed in the care of the Home for Children and Family in Koh Siray (076-213-315).
According to Thalang Hospital staffer, Ms Aporn Nuansakul, the baby girl was only the third abandoned baby they’d received in the past three to five years.
In contrast, a staffer at Vachira Hospital, who asked not to be named, said that it was the fourth abandoned baby they’d received over the past year.
The staffers concurred that once an abandoned baby is placed in their care, a physician will conduct a health examination.
Once clear, the baby will then be sent to the orphanage in Koh Siray, where they will remain until either family members come forward to make a claim, or someone petitions for an adoption.
The Phuket News contacted the orphanage, who were unable to provide any comment about the status of the two babies at this time.
Desperate mums
The infant baby boy found by shoppers in the parking lot of the Tesco Lotus Phuket branch shopping center, was alert yet oblivious to the large crowd of sympathetic onlookers.
Read sory here.
Witnesses said they had seen two teen girls ride in on a motorbike (of an unidentified make) from Yaowarat Rd, to make a speedy delivery to the cart near the side entrance of the shopping centre, before fleeing the scene via the bypass rd.
Staff quickly alerted authorities, who dispatched a crew from Vachira hospital. It was speculated that the young boy had been abandoned by unwilling and unable teen parents.
The boy was healthy although he weighed only 2.5 kilograms, suggesting he had only been a few weeks old at most.
The incident follows an even more disturbing case of baby abandonment exactly one week prior, when on the evening of February 6, Thalang police were alerted that a baby girl was found discarded in a trash bag in front of a house in Thalang’s Sisunthon neighborhood.
A resident, Mr Manit Limmanee was walking home when he heard a faint cry coming from inside a trash bin. He inspected and was shocked to find an infant crying baby, wrapped in towels and placed inside a black plastic bag.
He immediately alerted authorities, and the baby was rushed to Thalang Hospital, where the baby weighed in at 3.7 kg recently.
Staff initially reported that a wire string was still attached to the umbilical cord, and was presumed to have been used to rudimentary remove the cord
Witnesses in the neighborhood recalled spotting a teenage girl on an unidentified motorbike, who had suspiciously and frantically dumped a black bag inside the said bin, before fleeing the scene.
Police in both cases are investigating CCTV in hope to track down the babies’ mothers for questioning.