A newborn girl born with a cleft lip has been abandoned by her mother at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, according to a report by Citi News.

Hospital officials say the mother slipped away from the facility on Friday, November 28, after discovering the baby’s condition. She has not returned, and efforts to trace her have so far been unsuccessful.

The baby is currently being cared for by a midwife while hospital authorities continue searching for the family.

In the interim, Operation Smile Ghana, a nonprofit that provides free surgeries for children with cleft lip and palate, has stepped in to offer immediate support.

“We have accepted to put the child on our nutritional support until the child attains the right age. If all goes well, the child will be operated on in the first or second quarter of next year,” Country Director for Operation Smile Ghana, Peter Kwaku Titiati, told Citi News.

He added that the organisation’s priority is to ensure the baby receives full medical care and successful reconstruction.

“Ours is to ensure the interest of the child… so that the mother sees this child and regrets,” he said.

Data from the Ministry of Health indicates that more than 400 babies are born with cleft conditions in Ghana each year. Due to stigma, some parents hide their children, with rare but tragic cases leading to abandonment.