Two-faced baby dies of alleged starvation

Two-faced baby dies of alleged starvation

BOGOR (JP): A baby girl who was born with two faces in Kampung
Cangkurawok, Babakan village, Darmaga district, allegedly starved
to death on Friday afternoon, a relative said yesterday.

Yunani Yunana was born to her mother, 17-year-old Maryati, at
10 a.m. on Tuesday in a local clinic with the help of a nurse.

Her grandmother, Satni, 60, said Maryati was unable to breast
feed the baby for medical reasons and her mouth was too small to
suckle on a bottle.

"The mother was not able to breast feed her baby and the
child's mouth was too small to suckle on a bottle," she told The
Jakarta Post yesterday.

Satni said the baby had been spoon fed milk.

Maryati said Yunani Yunana, her first child, weighed 2.2
kilograms at birth and was 49 centimeters long. She was born with
two faces and one pair of ears.

"Each of her faces had a pair of eyes and eyebrows, a nose and
a mouth," she said.

There was no indication of the abnormalities during pregnancy,
said Maryati, who is married to Chaeruddin, 18, a public
transport driver.

Chaeruddin said his baby's left face was definitely less
active than the face on the right.

"She drank and cried from the mouth on her right face," he
said.

After her birth, Yunani Yunana was not taken to hospital for
medical checkups on her condition.

Chaeruddin's sister Mardiyah said the family decided not to
follow the advice of a nurse and take the baby to Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for an
examination because they did not believe the problem could be
solved.

"Besides, where would we get the money to pay for the
treatment," she said.

No postmortem examination was conducted on the baby. She was
buried in a nearby cemetery on Saturday.

News of the baby's condition drew hundreds of onlookers to the
house whose lack of sensitivity piled more pain on the already
anguished family.

Chaeruddin said it was tragic to see his daughter become a
public spectacle, but added he was powerless to stop the crowds
of onlookers from getting their way.

He said the family was also upset to hear that a person was
allegedly selling pictures of his baby to the public for Rp
2,500, and threatened to take legal action if it proved to be
true.

He said a person claiming to be a reporter had taken a picture
of Yunani when she was still alive. (24/cst)