A newborn baby girl has been found abandoned in the Achimota forest located in the Greater Accra Region.
Information gathered indicates that a group of women who were on their way to the forest for prayer activities heard the distinct cries of the infant.
Initially, they thought the cries were from a baby of a nursing mother from their group, so they continued towards their destination.
However, the persistence of the cries raised suspicion, leading one of the women to investigate the source.
Her search revealed a distressing scene – a baby girl bound in a black polythene bag alongside an African print cloth. Grasping the gravity of the situation, the woman quickly informed her companions.
They then called the Ayawaso West Wuogon Ambulance Service, but there was no prompt response.
Fortunately, an ambulance using the Achimota route was forced to stop and rescue the baby, even though there was an emergency patient already in the ambulance.
Both the rescued newborn and the patient made it safely to the hospital.
In recent times, there have been several cases of babies being abandoned.
Information gathered indicates that a group of construction workers discovered the baby.
Also, on July 26, roving dogs found a day-old baby boy abandoned in a bush at Kasoa Ofaakor in the Awutu Senya East Municipality of the Central Region.
Residents noticed the dogs’ reactions and followed them, only to discover that a fresh baby had been dumped in the bush.
Also, on February 6, 2023, a three-day-old baby boy abandoned in a bush was rescued at Moree, a fishing community in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District in the Central Region.
A resident, Sampson Appiah, narrating the incident, said he heard the baby’s cry on his way to fetch water.
On his return, the baby was still crying, and he decided to get close and see what was happening.
“I found the baby wrapped in polythene and dumped under a plantain. So I rushed home to get a cloth to wrap the baby and informed the chief, who also invited the police,” he narrated.
Again, on November 18, 2022, a day-old baby was dumped at a refuse site at Atasomanso, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The lifeless baby was found wrapped in a black plastic bag by the refuse attendant in the area.
A portion of its umbilical cord was still attached to the navel and wrapped in a blood-stained white cloth.
The refuse attendant who discovered the baby, narrating the incident, said, “I went into the container myself and opened the polythene bag, and I realized it was a fresh baby.”
The most popular of such developments was reported on July 17, 2023, when an abandoned newborn baby was discovered in front of the New Covenant Apostolic Church at Somanya in the Eastern Region, leaving its members in shock.
The baby was found on Sunday, July 16, when congregants were engaged in a clean-up exercise before service.
The lead pastor of the church narrated that his attention was drawn to the situation by congregants who discovered the baby wrapped in a white box with its umbilical cord still attached.
More shocking was the fact that the runaway mother left behind a note pleading with the pastor and his wife to adopt the child.
In the chilling note, the supposed mother said leaving the baby at the doorstep of the church was her best option. She pleaded with the pastor to name the baby after one of his children.