A Jharkhand baby abandoned by her parents at the neonatal intensive care unit of a private hospital in Kochi in February when she was 23 days old has been adopted by the Kerala government.

Health minister Veena George on Wednesday named her Nidhi, meaning treasure.

She was abandoned by her parents, migrant workers from Jharkhand, apparently because they feared that the baby might not make it as she weighed less thana kilogram.

The Kerala police and Child Welfare Committee (CWC) have been looking for the parents but haven’t been able to track them so far.

The girl, who is now 37 weeks old, will be taken care of by the CWC from Thursday. She has been nursed back to good health and currently weighs 2.5kg, up from 950gm when shewas deserted.

The Jharkhand couple were working as labourers at a fishing farm in Kottayam. When the delivery date neared, the couple decided to return to their state. But the mother went into labour during the train journey, which led them to seekmedical attention.

She was immediately taken to the nearby hospital where she delivered a premature baby. Later, the parents and the newborn were shifted to a private hospital in Kochi where they abandoned her.

When the news broke, George urged Shahirsha, the superintendent of the Government General Hospital, Ernakulam, to ensure expert medical care forthe infant.

Shahirsha told The Telegraph: “Since the baby is doing well now, our role is over. The CWC will take the baby into their custody. The police and the CWC have been relentlessly trying to locate the parents. But their efforts have not yielded any results. Now, the baby is being given milk from the breast milk bank. The ball is now in the court of the CWC if the parents return to claim their baby.”

A medical board was constituted at the Ernakulam hospital to coordinate the baby’s treatment. Nidhi has been in the care of nurses and doctors at the special newborn care unit. They are unhappy that the CWC will take her awayon Thursday.