Celebrate birth of girl child like festival: Delhi health minister

The birth of a girl child should be celebrated like a festival, Delhi minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday, sending out a strong message against female foeticide, as he distributed baby kits to new parents at a hospital as part of an initiative.

The birth of a girl child should be celebrated like a festival, Delhi minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday, sending out a strong message against female foeticide, as he distributed baby kits to new parents at a hospital as part of an initiative. The occasion was International Girl Child Day that aims to provide access to better health services, equal opportunities in education to every girl without any gender-based discrimination or violence.

The Delhi government in partnership with the women council of Chamber of Trade and Industries (CTI) distributed baby kits to parents of newborn girl children at seven of its hospitals, officials said.

Delhi Health Minister Jain distributed the kits at Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, the officials said.

These kits contain a baby blanket, soap, lotion, toys, towel, sweets box, socks, and diapers, they said. ''People should embrace and celebrate the birth of a girl child like a festival, and foeticide should not be done. Everyone should work to make a happy, healthy and progressive environment for every girl child,'' he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the city health department.

These welcome kits were distributed at nine Delhi government-run hospitals -- Aruna Asaf Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Dada Dev Hospital, Acharya Bhikshu Hospital, GTB Hospital, Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital and NC Joshi Hospital, it said.

''We should encourage other people to also not do female foeticide at any point in time. Killing a girl child before or after her birth is considered murder and is a punishable offence and, should be avoided at all costs,'' Jain said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)