A newborn baby believed to have been abandoned immediately after delivery has been rescued from a manhole in Tema Community One, Site 12 after being discovered on Wednesday at about 1900 hours.

The baby is currently receiving medical attention at the Tema General Hospital. 

Charles Amos, the Assemblyman for the Padmore Electoral Area, said he received a call from some residents about the discovery of an abandoned baby in a manhole around.

Mr Amos said the residents had carefully retrieved the baby from the manhole before he reached the scene, adding that the umbilical cord and placenta were still attached to the baby when discovered, suggesting that it was abandoned right after delivery.

He said although the baby was found in an unhealthy condition, it was alive and was immediately sent to the Tema Community One Police Station, where a complaint about the incident was made, and subsequently sent to the hospital for medical care.

The Assemblyman called for increased awareness about safe ways to hand over unwanted children to Social Welfare and other institutions, stressing that abandoning a baby was a criminal offence punishable by law.

He appealed to the public to volunteer information on the mother of the baby and also advised adolescent girls to desist from abandoning their babies, educating them to opt for protective sexual intercourse if they could not abstain.