By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Oct 4: A total of 52 dumping cases involving babies or fetuses was recorded between January 2016 and August 2023 based on police statistics, says Women, Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.
She said the trend of increase and decrease in the percentage of babies being dumped and number of teenage pregnancies is insignificant and remaining below 1 per cent, that is between 0.19 per cent to 0.62 per cent.
“The problem of baby dumping is intricately intertwined with many other teen-sexuality-related issues, such as teenage pregnancy, pornography, early sexual debut (having first sexual encounter at a young age), statutory rape, incest victims, rising in sexually risky behaviour and activities, and unsafe and unprotected sex.
“All these lead to unplanned pregnancies among teenagers due to lack of sexual education and awareness, and involvement in risky sexual behaviour (either the teen girls or their partners), mostly related to drug and substance use and abuse,” Fatimah disclosed.
She said this in her remarks before launching the Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) Baby Hatch facility at the hospital lobby here today.
As such, she said the stigma attached to pregnancies out of wedlock and poor emotional support from family members could lead teenage mothers to dump or abandon their newborn babies due to shame, fear, and confusion.
Fatimah added that apart from a baby hatch facility to reduce baby dumping cases by providing a safe option to leave their newborn babies, these young pregnant teenagers could seek shelter at Taman Seri Puteri, provided by the Welfare Department.
“The shelter will give these young pregnant teenagers a welfare support system during the pre- and post-natal period,” Fatimah shared.
She revealed that from 2016 up to April 2023, a total of 33 pregnant teenagers had sought shelter at Taman Seri Puteri.
“We hope that wihh such support systems like a baby hatch and shelter home, there will no more discarding of newborn babies,” she said.
Ministry of Women, Childhood and Community Well-being Permanent Secretary Noriah Ahmad, and BMC Kuching chairman Dr John Chew Chee Ming were also present. — DayakDaily
