Guwahati, Feb. 3: The four-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, who was rescued from a village in Kokrajhar district after being abandoned by his parents, has died.

Officials in the social welfare department said the boy's life could have been saved had he got proper care earlier and had his parents got in touch with the department.

The abandoned child was rescued from outside the residence of a farmer at 2 Vodayaguri village near Gossaigaon town, about 250km from here, on January 3.

The Telegraph had highlighted on January 12 how the child suffered as he was taken from Kokrajhar to Darrang, back to Kokrajhar and then to Barpeta (about 800km) and finally to the GMCH as an NGO and some child welfare committees of the social welfare department passed the buck in taking care of him.

When the child was taken by the CWC from Kokrajhar to the nearest home for such children at Dhola in Darrang district on January 3, the Dhola Regional Physically Handicapped Development Association, an NGO, refused to keep him for even one night, citing funds crunch. He was then brought back to Kokrajhar and admitted to the civil hospital. The next day, doctors referred him to the Barpeta Medical College and Hospital which referred him to the GMCH. The Barpeta CWC, however, avoided taking responsibility of the child.

"From the GMCH, he was taken to Shishu Griha, a home to take care of abandoned children at Ulubari here. But he had to be admitted to a private hospital as he had severe convulsions. Doctors there gave him blood as his condition deteriorated. From there he was again taken to GMCH. Since he was born with cerebral palsy and was not taken care of properly since childhood, he did not respond to treatment and died on Wednesday at the GMCH," Kamrup (metro) district child protection officer Binjumoni Das said. She feels the child's parents abandoned him because of lack of awareness about government facilities to take care of children in need of care and protection. "In such cases, parents can get in touch with the block-level child protection committee for help. The committee, with permission from CWC, sends such kids to registered homes for necessary care. But since many are unaware of the facilities, children are abandoned like in this case," she said.

The chairperson of the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Runumi Gogoi, said they would soon convene a meeting of all CWCs, district child protection officers and Childline to discuss such cases.