Doctors examining the body of an dead infant found in a bag in the swimming track area have reported that the baby’s body had cuts, bruises and other wounds.
A police officer swimming in the track area on Thursday discovered the corpse of the premature baby underwater.
“The doctor said there were three cuts in the arms, not very deep cuts,’’ said spokesperson for Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), Zeenath Ali.
‘’There were two bruises on a leg and two wounds to the head,” she added.
She said it was difficult to say the cause of the injuries.
‘’It may be the ropes in the area caused these injuries,’’ she said, adding that the infant appeared to have been born 26-28 weeks prematurely.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam also confirmed that several injuries were found on the infant’s body.
‘’We cannot say the cause of the injuries exactly,’’ Shiyam said. ‘’The dead body has now been laid to rest.’’
He said police were currently investigating the case.
Local media reported that the baby was bleeding when it was taken out of the water and that the umbilical cord and placenta were still attached. Haveeru published a picture of infant which appeared to have been put in a plastic bag.
In November last year another abandoned newborn female baby was discovered alive in some bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’.
As a Muslim country, abortion is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia. Several studies on HIV in the Maldives have identified risk factors including high levels of promiscuity and little use of contraception, and anecdotal evidence points overwhelmingly to a high rate of abortion.
In an article on the subject in 2009, Minivan News reported that many women unable to travel to Sri Lanka resort to illegal abortions performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings. Abortion-inducing pills and injections administered by amateur abortionists are one recourse while others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma, such is the stigma of having a child out of wedlock.