A local hospital is searching for the mother of a baby who was abandoned after she was found to be carrying a congenital venereal disease.

If the efforts are unsuccessful, medical authorities say the child will be given to a government-run orphanage.

The little girl was born on November 29 at Shanghai No. 5 People's Hospital in Minhang District. The mother is a migrant worker from Chongqing.

"We discovered that the mother was carrying syphilis and had passed it to her baby," said Zhang Linyun, a doctor at the hospital.

"We persuaded her to have the necessary treatment, but she soon disappeared."

The father never showed up, and the mother slipped out of the hospital five days after giving birth.

Following two weeks of treatment, the baby is now almost cured and is in good health, Zhang said.

The hospital asked the police to help find the mother, but the trail is cold.

Many people who heard about the case have called or visited the hospital and asked to adopt the baby, but the hospital had to refuse all offers.

"We still hope the baby's parents can take her home," Zhang said.

He acknowledged that other children have been abandoned at the hospital in the past.

"In most cases we failed to find the parents and had to give the infants to the Children's Welfare Institute," Zhang added. "The hospital doesn't have the right to put babies up for adoption."

(Shanghai Daily December 17, 2004)