Ammathottils to get lifeline

ALAPPUZHA: Ammathottils (cradles) in Kerala, most of them dilapidated, will soon get a lifeline. P. Aisha Potty, who heads the Assembly sub-committee on the welfare of women, children and physically handicapped, said they had started taking stock of the present status of 15 Ammathottils where some 300 newborns had reached since its inception in 2001. "Ammathottil in Alappuzha is no longer in a working condition," Ms Potty, who had inspected the facility near the Women and Children Hospital here recently, told DC.

"The situation is almost the same with others, though they save many infants who otherwise could get killed or abandoned in public places. So we will suggest a revival plan." The matter came to the panel’s notice when Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) issued an order on December 31, 2015, seeking immediate repair of all Ammathottils following a complaint that the facility in Pathanamthitta was dysfunctional for two years.

Ammathottil is a small room, mostly near district hospitals, with a door which is always ajar and a cradle inside beside a little lamp. Whenever a baby arrives, an alarm rings alerting officials. Their sorry state began with Child Welfare Council managing them becoming irrelevant with Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act). The Thiruvananthapuram-based Sahya Valley Technologies (P) Ltd, responsible for their maintenance, also failed to do its job in time. In January and May last year, two infants were found abandoned on Women and Children Hospital premises here as Ammathottil was not functioning.