The Davos hospital in eastern Switzerland is planning to set up a baby window where new born babies can be left anonymously by parents who cannot take care of them.

It will be the second such window in the country. A similar facility at the hospital in the town of Einsiedeln has received seven babies since it opened in 2001. The latest case was a baby girl left there on Monday.

“The hospital in Davos wants to face up to its social responsibilities,” its director Markus Hehli told the Swiss News Agency on Wednesday. He said the initiative had come from the Swiss Aid for Mother and Child organisation (SAMC), which also backed the window in Einsiedeln.

The proposal was made last autumn, and had met a favourable response from all concerned, he added. The hospital will take responsibility for treating the children, while the local authorities will be legally responsible for them. The costs will be borne by the SAMC.

Its backers hope that the service will prevent cases of infanticide by desperate mothers, and also be seen as an alternative to abortion. At the weekend the body of a baby girl was found in a rubbish dump in canton Bern.

A Bern parliamentarian has called for the canton to organise at least one baby window there.

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