Twenty three major government hospitals were involved in a study to detect cases of child abuse and neglect admitted to the hospitals in 1995. There were 680 cases admitted for the year consisting of 328 cases of physical and 263 sexual abuse and 89 cases of neglect or abandonment. In the majority of hospitals, there was a predominance of physical abuse cases being admitted whereas in a few hospitals there were more cases of sexual abuse. 48.2% of those physically abused were below 5 years of age and 21.7% were 10 years and above. However, amongst those sexually abused, 14.4% were below 5 years and 46.7% were 10 years old and above. Fourteen of the children died due to physical abuse. In 11 cases, the death was due to subdural haemorrhage.