A hospital in Ahmedabad offers a special offer for parents whose child is a baby girl. Parents of baby girls born in the hospital won’t have to pay the hospital fee- an offer that should be seen in the context of the present child sex ratio in Gujarat: 890 girls for every 1,000 boys. The move is obviously to make the parents of girls feel special.
The initiative was launched in the Sindhu Hospital in the previous month. More than 150 couples have already registered for delivery in the hospital. The usual cost of delivery is Rs.7,000 for normal birth while for a C-section attracts a bill of Rs.20,000.
Mahadev Lohana, the managing director of the hospital said something insightful when he spoke to the newspaper, The Times of India. He mentions how majority of the women who get admitted to the hospital for delivery would pray for a boy-something that’s been observed for years. The birth of a male child will be celebrated with sweets whereas if it’s a girl, stoic acceptance is the extent of response. Lohana added that the hospital decided that it was time to celebrate the arrival of a girl child.
The registration fee of Rs.1,100 will also be returned to the parents if it’s a girl. The hospital also holds a small party for relatives after the girl’s birth-which includes cake cutting and serving of snacks.
As Lohana puts it, the country needs to celebrate the birth of a girl.
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