A one-year-old child with a potentially life threatening heart condition found abandoned under a hospital bed earlier this month has been admitted to the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation for treatment, following instructions from Solidarity Minister Ghada Waly.
The abandoned girl, discovered under a bed in Mahalla General Hospital, Gharbiya governorate suffering from a heart defect, was transferred to the specialist hospital in Aswan, accompanied by a nurse and a social worker affiliated to the Solidarity Ministry.
Doctors have said her condition is stable, but that she will need to undergo heart surgery in three months' time.
Workers at Mahalla hospital found the infant under a bed in the emergency unit with a note written by her poverty-stricken father, asking somebody to take care of her.
In his letter, the father explained that he could not look after the child due to serious economic circumstances, including several cases of debt.
The child was born with a hole in the heart and required substantial surgery, said the note, while the mother had died from cancer.
The father said he would not be able to raise the child without remarrying, but he could not afford to do so due to his financial difficulties and legal cases involving unpaid debts.
"What would you do if you were in my shoes? She will die if I keep her," he wrote.
Mohamed Sharshar, an undersecretary at the Health Ministry, ordered that the child be referred to the neonatal intensive care unit of Mahalla General Hospital until her condition stabilized. He suggested that she be put in an orphanage following treatment.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
