Although the Bauchi baby girl, Fatima Didda, born without limbs and who came into this world on 13th of January this year at Dunomari ward in Sakwa Village of Zaki local government area of Bauchi state is still alive. However, investigation has revealed that the baby is encountering more hardship in its bid for survival.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY’ learnt that although Fatima is healthy, her ordeal is however, pitiful because she will grow up without being able to mingle with or play with her peers due to her deformity. In fact she cannot do anything for herself at the time she wants without being assisted due to her lacking of the essential body parts needed for walking and working.
In an Interview with our correspondent, the chairman, Zaki Cripples Association, Malam Abdullahi Cindo said he has never seen a person with a deformity like Fatima in the whole of the local government and appealed to the people of the area not to stigmatize her due to her condition even as he also urged government to assist her parents toward her upbringing.
Our correspondent gathered that the baby, unlike other babies is being fed with cow and goat’s milk because her mother’s breasts could not produce milk.??
Speaking to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, father of the baby, Malam Ahmadu Didda said although the child was delivered with deformity, the family is grateful to God because he believes every child is a blessing.
Ahmadu said both Fatima, who was born at home and her mother are healthy, but was quick to call on the government and well-meaning individuals to come to their aid so as to help them in caring for the baby.
He said: “A child is a gift from God but it won’t be easy for us to raise Fatima alone because without legs and hands, she needs special care and attention. We feel sorry for her but with assistance from government and individuals, I know she will live a good life,”he said.
The mother of the baby, Rukayyah, who said Fatima is her 5th child, disclosed that even though she prefers to deliver in hospital she could not do so due to financial problems.? She expressed gratitude to God for blessing her with the daughter and said that she is taking good care of her like she does to her other children in the best way possible.
However, according to some medical experts, the survival of the baby is minimal. A medical doctor with the REEMEEE Hospital Bauchi, Dr. Ozochukwu explained that children can be born without some essential parts of their bodies due to congenital abnormalities, and? that taking of certain drugs during pregnancy can also cause that.
“Drugs like Taldomine used sometimes ago could cause that kind of thing to the foetus in the uterus” but advised women to start ante-natals early when they conceive so that if they carry those kinds of children with deformity, they can be aborted before they are born. “Women should avoid indiscriminate taking of drugs, they should go to hospital for ante-natals for them to have adequate vitamin required during pregnancy” he counselled.
The physician said in developed countries, women start ante-natals and get folic acid immediately they are anticipating pregnancy, advising further that “anytime you don’t see your menses, you report to the doctor and need to follow up from time to time. I believe if this woman had followed the normal ante-natals process, this may not have happed.”
Dr. Ozochukwu added that the incidence of giving birth to children without some vital body parts usually occurs in ‘primes’.
“Primes are people that are just delivering for the first time. They don’t have the idea of these things. They don’t see their menses and they start taking all sorts of drugs”,he pointed out.
The expert also said social mothers are more likely to bear those kinds of children due to indiscriminate taking of drugs to abort pregnancy, noting that when the drugs do not succeed in aborting the pregnancy, some parts of the baby’s organs could be affected. He also said the incidence can also be caused by radiation.
He therefore advised the parents of Fatima to take her to a Teaching Hospital that has enough facilities to check her other organs, do ultra-sound scanning etc so as to know the condition of her internal organs and manage her situation.
But Dr. Muhammad Dambam who is the chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, opined that if the baby is taken to countries like Germany , they can put an artificial hands and legs for her to manage with.
However, a renowned Islamic scholar in Bauchi, Malam Yahya Mai Tauhidi while commenting on the development, advised couples to always pray before going to bed together? to avoid giving birth to such kinds of children. Mai Tauhidi who quoted both the Qur’an and the tradition of Prophet Muhammad pbuh, said prayer can stop the devil and evil sprits from touching and or harming a child in his mother’s womb.
“Any one who sleeps with his wife without praying, he risks doing it together with the devil,” he said.
The cleric who expressed deep pity for the poor baby, appealed to government to assist the parents in taking good care of her .?