April 2, 2025
TOKYO – A social welfare corporation in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward, has opened the country’s second baby hatch at one of its hospitals, allowing parents to anonymously leave newborns they cannot raise.
The welfare corporation, San-ikukai, announced Monday that San-ikukai Hospital also started a confidential birth system, in which a limited number of medical staff handle the personal information of the mothers.
Following Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, the “Inochi no Basuketto” (the basket of life) marks the second baby hatch service offered by a medical institution in the nation.
The baby hatch accepts infants up to 4 weeks old and an exclusive room is set up for the use of this service on the hospital’s first floor, according to the welfare corporation.
If an infant is left at the hospital, the hospital reports them to a child consultation center and the police. The center then arranges for them to be placed in an infant home or similar facility. Subsequently, the ward office creates a family register, and there are cases in which the ward mayor may name the child.
The hospital will also work with authorities to follow the national guidelines for confidential births. The child will be placed in the care of a child consultation center contacted by the hospital.
The hospital will keep the mother’s personal information on file in case the child later asks for details about their birth.
While mothers are expected to cover the costs of childbirth in principle, the hospital will offer counseling regarding possible financial assistance.
“[This service] is an emergency and final measure to avoid the abandonment of babies and child abuse deaths,” said San-ikukai Hospital head Hitoshi Kato at a press conference held Monday.
Jikei Hospital set up its baby hatch in 2007. By the end of March 2024, 179 babies had been left there. The hospital introduced the confidential birth system in 2019, and about 40 babies were born through this service in the three years from December 2021.