A one month old baby of Ghanaian decent has died in Italy after a home circumcision.
The parents of the baby – a Ghanaian father and a woman who have been described by Italian authorities as a refugee are in the grip of the police.
An autopsy will be carried out on the body of the baby on Wednesday.
According to reports from ansa.it an online news platform in Italy, the baby suffered a cardiac arrest after the circumcision and was later confirmed dead at the hospital.
The emergency call to alert authorities came from a venue know as “Spazio Neruda” occupied by the homeless.
A resident at the Spazio Neruda told ansa.it “They circumcised their son, then they wrapped him with gauze and gave him paracetamol,”
Ansa.it reports that the baby had been brought to the shelter by parents on Sunday evening to pass the night.
The mother of the baby who was reported to the police for alleged culpable homicide told investigators she gave the baby 250mg of paracetamol after the circumcision.
The Italian police is yet to track down the Ghanaian doctor who carried out the circumcision.
The news portal reports that Mustafa Qaddurah, a pediatrician with the Islamic Cultural Centre of Rome, said the national health system in Italy does not cover circumcision performed for cultural or non medical purposes.
He says parents who want to circumcise their children must either pay expensive medical cost or go to charlatans.
