By Anna Shilongo
WINDHOEK
Namibian Police Public Relations Officer in the Oshana Region, Slogan Matheus, says baby dumping has become a common practice and is a major concern in the region.
He said the police are baffled by cases of mothers who dump their babies at will.
One such recent case was of a woman who gave birth and dumped the baby on a bush at Okambode Village in Oniipa area.
A passerby who was looking for his missing goats discovered the baby at around 14h00 last Friday.
He heard a baby crying and on investigation found the baby wrapped in a blanket on top of a thorn bush.
A search was made around the area with the hope to find the mother, but to no avail and the man then reported the case to the nearest police station
Matheus said it is suspected that the baby was delivered at the Onandjokwe Lutheran Hospital as it was discovered in the area near the church hospital.
The police officer said the baby is in a healthy condition and called on the public to help trace the mother.
“I am calling on the public, especially those whose family members were pregnant but there is no baby, to come forward or report to the nearest police station,” he said.
Matheus said efforts by the police to locate the mother have proved futile. He said they went as far as weighing the baby, to check against hospital records in an effort to identify the baby.
“We managed to get two women, who delivered in the same week and whose babies’ weights matched that of the discovered baby but the addresses the two women gave were invalid. We also looked around in the surrounding villages but nobody knows the women.”
The baby is being cared for at a hospital.