A private hospital in Karnataka's Vijayapura district has announced free delivery of newborns at its facility from January 18 to January 22 to celebrate the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on Monday.

The decision was announced by the 'Shri Siddeshwar Loka Kalyana Charitable Trust', which runs the JSS Super Speciality Hospital here.

"Starting from today, delivery of all the new born babies at our hospital will be done for free till January 22 to celebrate 'Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha' which will be held this Monday in Ayodhya. It's a huge occasion and we wanted to contribute in a significant way. So we decided that all deliveries happening at our hospital for the specified period of five days will be done free of cost," an official of the hospital told PTI.

"Today, so far, we have done seven deliveries free of cost", he said.

Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal hailed the initiative as "Ayodhya Celebration".

"If a delivery takes place at JSS hospital from January 18, 2024 to January 22, 2024, then the male child born at the hospital will be considered as a form of Rama and the new born female child will be considered as a form of Sita. The delivery will be done free of cost. Jai Shri Ram," the former Union Minister said on 'X'.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.