A set of twins have been rescued after their mother fled moments after delivering at the Machakos Level 5 Hospital.
According to the hospital staff, the incident took place on Thursday, May 20, when they were unable to trace the mother, prompting the children's department to take the babies into their custody.
The babies were taken to the Children's Rescue Centre for proper care as investigations commence to establish the whereabouts of the mother.
The hospital superintended added that they would use the CCTV footage to identify the mother as well as other women who had abandoned children in the hospital.
The county children's officer Salome Muthama disclosed that there had been increased incidences of babies being abandoned in the county.
"In the past month, we have rescued 10 babies who have been left in the bushes or in hospitals," she explained adding that it was very disheartening for mothers to leave their babies unattended.
She further urged fathers to take responsibility for the children so as to assist the mothers to take care of them.
Many newborn babies are left in marketplaces, public parks, hospitals, and sometimes even latrines and trash collection centers.
A study showed that abandoned babies in Nairobi institutions had poor growth compared to mothered babies.
"There is more or less global development delay in abandoned babies, however, the social personal sector is affected more frequently followed by gross motor and speech and hearing," the report that focused on abandoned babies in Kenyatta National Hospital revealed.
At the same time, the rate of unwanted pregnancies has increased because of changes in the socio-economic environment.
According to data from the International Rescue Committee, in Turkana County alone 558 adolescent pregnancies were reported between March and June which was almost a threefold increase from the same period last year.
