Assam: Newborn declared dead by doctors, comes alive before cremation

Ratan Das (29), the child’s father, said that he took his six-month pregnant wife to a private hospital in Silchar on Tuesday evening where the doctors said there are difficulties in the pregnancy and they can save either the mother or the kid

A newborn baby, declared dead by the doctors at a private hospital in Assam’s Silchar, was found alive minutes before the cremation. The incident took place on Wednesday morning.

According to the father of the child, the hospital gave him the dead body in a packet (Representative Photo)

Ratan Das (29), the child’s father, said that he took his six-month pregnant wife to a private hospital in Silchar on Tuesday evening where the doctors said there are difficulties in the pregnancy and they can save either the mother or the kid.

“We allowed them to perform the delivery and they said that my wife has given birth to a stillborn child. On Wednesday morning we received the dead body with a death certificate,” he said.

According to Das, the dead body was given in a packet. “After reaching the Silchar crematorium, when we opened the packet before the cremation, my child cried. We rushed back to the hospital with him and now he is under treatment,” Das said.

Following the incident, a group of people from Silchar’s Malinibil area gathered in front of the hospital to stage a protest.

Sujit Das Choudhary, a local resident, said that the hospital authorities kept the newborn inside a packet like garbage for more than eight hours, without even properly examining if he was alive.

The family members have also lodged a first information report (FIR) against the hospital and the doctor. However, police refused to comment on this.