Haitian hospitals filling with abandoned children PORT-AU-PRINCE. Haiti (AP) — The skeletal baby boy lay across the lap of a woman who had found him in front of her house, left for the pigs to eat "The mother dropped the child in front of her home." Dr Marie Franciaque. director of Grace Children's Hospital, said Monday after she saw the woman waiting for a chest X-ray for the frail child. "So this woman picked up the child and brought him here for help." The infant, just under 5 pounds, struggled to survive, ribs rising and falling with each labored breath He is part of a rising trend of children abandoned at the hospital in the last few months by their poverty-stricken families, Francisque said. She blamed the increase on Haiti's worsening economic situa tion. Already living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, many Haitians wore cast out of work when an international trade embargo closed assembly plants in late May. Four babies went left at the hospital last week, said Francisque. In other cases, relatives never come to reclaim children who have been treated. "They love their children, hut they have no job. They can’t afford to feed the baby. They are desperate." said Franctsque. "They think someone else can give better care to their children." The baby hoy was rushed upstairs to a room full of sic k i hildren lying side-hv-side in cots and cribs Four nurses began lifesaving efforts. The baby's prognosis, a hospital administrator said, was very poor He was suffering from severe malnutrition, so weak he could bare ly move his oversized head When the nurses jablied a needle into the loose skin of his stic k like arm to start intravenous feeding, he could only make a pathetic little bleat. Olivia Wilda, -15. who carried him to the hospital with a small plastic bag of baby ’s clothing, said it was the second time she found a baby abandoned bv its mother in the slum where she lives Grace Children's Hospital, the only hospital in Haiti for children with tuberculosis, treated 1.053 children for TB in 1003, up from H51 in 1992, and the* numbers are rising, Franc isque said. At the same time, its number of beds has fallen to 72 from 200 in 1975 in the fane of politic al and economic turmoil. Haitian families and neighbors traditionally take c am of one anoth er's young, so the trend toward abandonment reflects an unprece dented desperation, said Francisquc In a corner, two little girls lav on cots, c rying They had been dis charged, but no family members had retrieved them “My aunt hasn't come to pic k me up." sobbed Mic.hou Alexis, in. wiping her tears with her shirt sleeve The hospital looks for orphanages to take the abandoned c hildren. but that's becoming harder because then re all full, said Francisque "The abandoned children, they're all called Innot ent." a nurse said solemnly. "Bei ause they are innocent vie Ulus." r French officials accused of distributing tainted blood PARIS (AP) — A French prosecutor opened an inquiry Monday into allegations a for mer prime minister and two other top officials were to blame for the distribution of AIDS-tainted blood through a national blood bank. Monday's development was the biggest gain yet in the campaign by infected transfusion patients and their families to hold top gov ernment officials accountable for a scandal that has only been blamed on doctors. Officials had ruled the statute of limitations pre vented charging the former ministers with negligence for the 1985 infection of 1.200 hemophiliacs with the virus that causes AIDS. More than 300 have died. But Prosecutor General Pierre Truche said he opened a judicial investigation into "the administration of sub stances harmful to health," a charge that could bring a 10 year prison sentence. Those named in the probe were Socialist former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, for mer Social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix, and Edmond Herve, the former deputy health minister. Fabiua. now n member of Parliament, noted that he had "Hsked for such an in vestigation for a long time." In a statement, he said he expected the investigation would "contribute to estab lishing the truth clearly, rapidly and completely.” Families of the victims, many of them children, have pressed prosecutors to con tinue pursuing officials linked to France's worst health scandal The expected inquiry is the result of constitutional reform approved last July that allows citizens with a grievance against the govern ment to petition a judicial panel for an investigation. Prosecutors have said the government could have used available techniques to de contaminate HIV-tainted blood or replace it with untainted stocks. Instead the government chose not to purchase U.S. d eve loped technology that could have neutralized the HIV virus by heating the blood. It also spumed a U.S. AIDS-testing technique, wait ing instead for France's Pas teur Institute to develop its own. Presenting: ___ who The ob>C'9 «*»» 730 E. Broadway __ Eugene. OR 97401 p 112* PEUVERV 484-2919 xl Limited Delivery Area/Minimum Order Required Visa A Mastercard Accepted \ V Large Restaurant Menu & £ : # £ & ★ Delivery ★ Catering ★ Tailgate Parties $2 OFF $3 OFF MEDIUM PIZZA LARGE PIZZA Valid only at 730 E. Broadway location. Not valid with any other offer. Expires August 31. 1994 SAVE $$$ ON TEXTBOOKS! * one block from campus Mme low prices * expanded floor space Br*ng your Textbook Information author, title, edition *' II help you save $$$ .tdMu“,nr,yoar'sT-ib