The baby hatch facility located near the entrance of BMC does not have CCTV coverage to offer complete privacy to the parents.
KUCHING (March 26): The biological mother of a newborn who was placed inside a baby hatch facility at Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) here in the early hours of Sunday has been urged to come forward to assist in the registration of the baby girl with National Registration Department.
Assuring the mother of complete anonymity, Sarawak Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said no legal actions will be taken against the parents as the newborn was found in a healthy and safe condition.
“Today I would like to appeal to the biological parents to help us in registering the baby with the department so that the newborn can be classified as a citizen of Malaysia,” she said during a press conference at Borneo Medical Centre here yesterday.
Without the biological mother coming forward, Fatimah said the newborn’s citizenship status will be classified as ‘not determined’, otherwise known as stateless, and this will result in a prolonged adoption process later through the court orders.
“We would like the child to have a citizenship. If the mother comes forward and she is a citizen of Malaysia, then the child will follow the citizenship of the mother and be classified as a citizen of the country.”
A note was placed inside the facility together with the baby stating that the newborn was a girl and she was born on Saturday.
An alarm at the baby hatch facility at BMC was triggered at 5.50am on Sunday after the newborn was detected to have been placed inside.
A medical team from BMC’s emergency ward then immediately attended to the newborn before the baby girl was transferred to Sarawak General Hospital for further evaluation. The alarm will be triggered 60 seconds after the door for the baby hatch facility has been closed.
Commenting further, Fatimah said the police have also confirmed no action will be taken against the biological mother as there was no element of abuse found on the newborn’s body and the child was placed in a safe environment.
With the presence of the biological parents, Fatimah further explained, the adoption process of the child with the prospective adoptive parents will be simpler and can be shortened to one day only at the district office, instead of two years through the court process.
The biological parents can also be a part of the selection process of the adoptive parents best suited to care for their newborn, Fatimah added.
Fatimah highlighted the basic principle of setting up a baby hatch facility was to provide anonymity to the parents placing their newborn there and at the same time, reducing cases of baby dumping.
“Any lives, even a single life, saved is a precious life,” said Fatimah.
The minister commended BMC for setting up the baby hatch facility in October last year. BMC remains the sole provider of such service in the state.
The area of the facility is also not covered by any closed-circuit television (CCTV) to accord the needed privacy to the parents.
The biological mother of the newborn can contact the minister at 013-8063635 via WhatsApp to assist in registering the child and the mother’s identity will not be revealed to the public.
Fatimah shared that there have been four cases of baby dumping this year and a total of 54 cases between 2016 and 2023.