Sambalpur: A newborn baby boy was allegedly lifted from the gynaecology ward of the district headquarters hospital here in the early hours Friday and the police are investigating the matter.
Aniruddha Majhi, the father of the newborn, lodged a complaint with the police.
According to Majhi, he had admitted his wife Geetanjali in the hospital March 22 and the infant was born the next day. “But my newborn son is missing from the hospital.”
This was the third such incident since December last year.
Two incidents of baby thefts were reported in SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the infants were later rescued. Aniruddha’s mother-in-law, Malati Bhue said her daughter had delivered a male child at around 12 noon Thursday after undergoing caesarian section.
Later, an unidentified woman came to her and requested her to allow her to take the baby in her lap. “But as the baby was asleep, I did not allow her and she left the ward. In the night, I slept near my daughter’s bed and Aniruddha was sitting beside her. But he dosed off. At around 3 am Friday Geetanjali woke up and complained that her newborn son was missing,” she said.
Bhue claimed that attendants of some patients in the ward had told her that the unidentified woman was wandering near the ward in the night.
Chief district medical officer, Kodanda Rao said police had been informed immediately after getting the news of the “unfortunate” incident.
Hospital sources said only three security guards were on duty in the night and the 64 CCTV cameras that have been installed at the hospital corridors were of poor quality.
Inspector-in-charge of Town police station, PK Sahu, who visited the hospital, said the CCTV footage from various locations are being verified and the culprit has been identified.
“We are hopeful that the baby will be found soon,” he added. PNN
