J-K: Rescued newborn waits for her parents

Eighty children from the critical care unit were rescued by doctors and army personnel on their laps and taken in boats on September 7. Among them was a week-old girl from Gundemogsud village in Baramulla.

When flood waters came gushing into Srinagar's GB Pant Hospital on September 7, the doctors had no time to lose.

There were 300 children admitted in the hospital, of which at least 80 were in the critical care unit. With no power supply and backup generators under water in the ground floor, the doctors sent an SOS to the 92 Base Hospital in nearby Badami Bagh Cantonment of the Indian Army.

In the evening, amid cold winds and rising water, 80 children from the critical care unit were rescued by doctors and army personnel on their laps and taken in boats.

Among them was a week-old girl from Gundemogsud village in Baramulla.

Suffering from septic infection and hypothermia, she was immediately put under a radiant warmer to maintain her body temperature. But a week after the floods, she is still waiting for her father Riyaz Ahmed, who brought her to the hospital, to take her home.

"Her father told us he is going to look for other members of his family but has not come back. We do not know her name. But her condition is now stable. Since her mother is not with her, we are feeding her through a bottle every two hours and three paediatricians are checking on her," said Major AK Gupta, the paediatrician at the army hospital.

Amid rumours that few infants admitted in the GB Pant Hospital died in the floods, the army and state health authorities claimed nearly 300 children were rescued over three days.

While those under critical care were admitted, others were sent to hospitals such as SKIMS and Kashmir Nursing Home which were functional.

Jammu and Kashmir principal secretary for health, G Hussain, said there have been no casualties in hospitals because of the floods.

"The few deaths have been the ones that normally occur in hospitals," said Hussain.