Seyfoullah Fokkerbux, Anne Jenia Arekion? ? Do those names ring a bell? Nisha Ruddea, Anousha Bannee, Anita Konsita Jolita? No? They were all aged between 0-7 years old only by the time of their untimely violent deaths over the past two years. They did not survive after being battered or/and abused by either mother or father or acquaintances or total strangers.

?What we see is only the tip of the iceberg?, declared Dr Hemraz Boodhoo at the monthly meeting of the Mauritius Medical Association (MMA) on Tuesday evening. ?If one battered child is getting treatment now, dozens of other children are being tortured.?

This well-known Mauritian neurosurgeon in South Africa, who is working in Mauritius on a contract basis, has often had to do post-mortem examinations on dead South African children. And every time it was the same feeling. ?Very nauseating after coming back from the mortuary.? Hqe returned to escape those morbid images that kept haunting him.

Ironically enough, he met with Nisha Ruddea one night in mid-April last year. The 16-month old infant was in a coma with legs, arms and ribs broken. As a physician, it was his duty to call the police. They took 48 hours to come ? and the child had already passed away. He now tells himself he came back to ?Paradise Island? ? but to what? To a country where many children?s futureKis made of terror, suffering and even death?

The MMA is sensitizing its members, especially doctors. The association asks them to be more proactive and more alert in recognizing battered children before it is too late. Dr. Amrit Rajkumar suggested that, if a doctor suspects child abuse, he/she doctor should admit the child immediately. He further adds, ?The law has pathetically failed in this country.?

In other countries, parents have more support in terms of psychological help. He takes the example of Sweden where the parents of a new-born are given a long leave only if they take a parenting course. However, the authorities here wait until the child has been abused before giving a psychological programme, known as the men- toring programme.

Endless debates

However, the mentoring programme announced by the minister of Women?s rights, Child development and Family welfare, Indira Seebun, in Parliament in July 2006 as a step to combat abuse and violence against children, is still not up and running. And, after two years, the minister still says, ?It?s going to be launched very soon.?

In the meantime, the case of battered children is spreading over the country. Dr. Amrit Rajkumar calls for a revision of the Child Act of Mauritius. ?Relationships are based on trust but trust has been violated here. Where will the kids go when they are assaulted? It?s no more a medical issue but a social one!?

He takes the example of the hotline (113) of the Child Development Unit (CDU): ?Try calling this hotline at any time of night and you will understand our confusion in the law. No one even picks up the phone.? On the other hand, minister Indira Seebun specifies that annually they have almost 2,500 cases of battered children and most through the hotline.

Dr Hemraz Boodhoo in frustration concludes: ?If debates are done, these will be endlessly done. What this country needs now is more action. As being as down to earth as possible, nothing is being done to prevent our children from being killed mercilessly.?

A. M.

A FEW FACTS

Types of abuse

• Physical neglect & blows

• Medical neglect

• Sexual harassment

• Psychological abuse

<b>A BATTERED CHILD</b>

- Is too quiet or too irritable

- Refuses feeds & vomits

- Has seizures and short breathing 

- Is anaemic & has fractured ribsA battered child

- Is too quiet or too irritable

- Refuses feeds & vomits

- Has seizures and short breathing 

• Is anaemic & has fractured ribs

PERPETRATORS

Biological father: 37%

Mother?s boyfriend : 20.5%

Female babysitter : 17.3%

Mothers: 12.6%

TRIBUTE

Cry for our beloved children, Mauritius, our Paradise Nation The jewel of the Indian Ocean, You let your children cry And die. They broke our bones, Burned our thin skin, Shook our tiny bodies violently, Flung us against the wall. We cried all night, Moaned all day. But they never stopped, We came in and out Of our hospitals, Our guardian angels, Said things would?be all right And bright, But we never saw the light. We went endlessly in agony, Into this dark tunnel, Till we left your cruel world, Never to come back again, Don?t cry for your beloved Children, Cry for your beloved Rainbow nation For its colours are fading.

Dr Hemraz BOODHOO