Taiwanese premature baby born in Okinawa returns home thanks to support
May 25, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo
A twenty-year-old Taiwanese mother who delivered a baby in the seventh month of pregnancy while travelling in Okinawa flew from Naha Airport to Taiwan with her baby at 9 p.m. on May 24. The newborn had gained 1600 grams, making him twice his March 30 birth weight, 884 grams. The doctor who took care of the infant, Masaya Miyagi at the Nanbu Medical Center/Nanbu Child Medical Center, gave the “okay” for the family to return home, saying “the baby is growing well.” The mother thanked medical staff; “I’m very relieved that our child is growing well. I cannot describe our appreciation for all the support we received including the financial support.”
The baby is a boy, and although he was born prematurely, he has been growing well on breastmilk from his mother. As it has past the 40th week, the week of expected delivery, the mother and boy are finally able to go home.
Financial donations to the family had reached 20 million yen as of May 24, enabling the family to cover the eight million yen in medical costs as well as 200 thousand yen for the nursing support from Okinawa to Taiwan. The Ryukyu Overseas Chinese Association and its president Mitsuteru Harimoto is planning to donate the surplus to the prefectural government to go towards helping if this event occurs again in the future. Some of the 300 donors are anonymous. The president Harimoto expressed gratitude, “we would like to show our appreciation somehow.”
The baby’s name has the chinese character of “mountain” in the hope that he will grow up strong and tough. The mother promised she would revisit Okinawa, saying “we would like to come back to Okinawa when he reaches three years of age. We would like to show him walking well to the people who supported us.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sayaka Sakuma)
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