At the Kalmunai Base hospital in Columbo, Sri Lanka, “Baby 81” is the center of a heated conflict between nine women, who each claim that he is their child.  

Since the tsunami on December 26th when “Baby 81” (whose real name is unknown) was admitted as the 81st patient to the hospital, the women have threatened doctors and each other in hopes of securing the infant.  

“Most of the parents who came and claimed that this is their baby are really believing that this is their baby,” Dr. K. Muhunthan, an obstetrician, told Sky TV. “Maybe they are not lying, because they have lost a baby of the same age and all the babies they look at look like their own child,” he said.  

Needless to say that in Sri Lanka, where 40 percent of the tsunami deaths involved children, the emotional impact of the disaster on parents has been tremendous. Here, losing a child, particularly a boy, could mean losing one’s prospects of relative economic security in the future.  

Nurses, in the meantime, are attending to the child, and hospital authorities have requested access to DNA tests from local officials. “Baby 81” will remain at the hospital in the interim.

Toyin