New Year’s Day baby delivered on grass

By YVONNE KAMBIBEL
A MOTHER delivered her New Year’s Day baby on the lawn next to a remote health centre on Kiriwina-Goodenough in Milne Bay, a senior health worker says.
Sister-in-charge of the Bolubolu Health Centre Dielo Maika described the drama as “unfortunate and strange”.
She said at around 1.12am on Saturday, her husband heard the cry of a baby beside their house and woke her up to go and see what was happening. Maika, on arrival at the scene, found a mother who had just given birth less than two minutes’ walk to the health centre.
She said one of her nursing officers, who claimed to be a relative of the mother, appeared and took the mother and the baby into her house.
“I did not have the time to check on the mother to make sure that she and her baby were alright and were not in need of further medical assistance,” Maika said.
She said the mother and her baby, whom she did not even have a chance to confirm the gender, seemed fine when she found them.
However, she did not even get the name of the mother.
“Although we were neighbours, we had no idea that she was accommodating a pregnant woman so the child birth came as a complete shock to us,” Maika said.
She said the woman did not look like someone from within their catchment area, therefore, she must had came from another part of the island.