Utilise baby hatch, minister tells pregnant teens

KUCHING: Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah has reminded teenagers who are facing pregnancy that there is a secure and safe place that can provide protection and care for both them and their newborns.
 
Fatimah, who is the Minister of Women, Early Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development, highlighted that the ministry has established the One Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee at the state and divisional levels to combat cases of baby dumping.
 
“The initiative aims to reduce instances of baby abandonment and the rate of teenage pregnancy.
 
“KPJ Kuching Specialist Hospital has set up the first baby hatch in the state (in their old premises) to help curb baby dumping.
 
“And at the moment, the Borneo Medical Centre is also setting up their baby hatch, which is expected to be ready soon.
 
“At the same time, the Sexual Education Awareness and Advocacy Programme (KAPS) was established to provide information and support for pregnant teens,” she said in a statement yesterday (Aug 18).
 
She made these remarks following a distressing incident of baby abandonment yesterday.
 
Fatimah disclosed that the individual responsible for this act chose to discard the infant in an attempt to conceal evidence.
 
“The perpetrator threw away the baby she had conceived because she did not want family members, and members of the community knew that they had sex outside of marriage.
 
“As a result, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. They wanted to hide the baby born out of wedlock,” she said.
 
According to the latest report, the perpetrator was apprehended yesterday by the police.
 
The newborn baby girl is currently receiving medical care and observation at the Sarawak General Hospital.
 
Meanwhile, based on statistics, Fatimah said that there were a total of 10 cases of baby abandonment throughout the state in 2016, four (2017), 10 (2018), five (2019), five (2020), 10 (2021), six (2022), and two (from January until Aug 18 this year).
 
For teenage pregnancy cases, the state has recorded a total of 2,481 cases in 2016, 2,130 (2017), 2,153 (2018), 1,967 (2019), 2,099 (2020), 1,623 (2021), 1,536 (2022), and 514 (from January until Mar 31 this year).
 
She said that there was a notable 38.09 per cent decline in teenage pregnancy cases from 2016 to 2022.
 
She added that the percentage of teenage pregnancies compared to total antenatal cases in Sarawak showed a declining trend as well, from 6.4 per cent in 2016 to 4.8 per cent in 2022, and as of Mar 31 this year, the percentage stood at 5.99 per cent, indicating a 1.6 per cent decrease over the period.