Balasore: An eightday old newborn boy undergoing treatment at a special care unit at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) here went missing Thursday. Sources said that the boy had been stolen by miscreants who exchanged the newborn with a baby girl. The incident sparked panic among pregnant women admitted to the DHH. The newborn went missing despite the presence of security officials.
Till reports last came in, police have failed to trace the baby. It should also be stated here that so far there have been no takers for the baby girl who was found in the cot of the newborn. Family members of the boy and their relatives demanded a high-level probe into the incident. The matter has come as a rude eye-opener to many regarding the security provisions in the government-run health facility. The newborn boy was identified as the baby of Tikili and Susant Barik of Athabatia locality under Baliapal police limits in this district. Tikili gave birth to the baby at the Bhograi Community Health Centre, March 28. Incidentally, it was her first baby. However, the newborn boy had to be shifted to the district headquarters hospital after doctors at the Bhograi health centre found that he was suffering from jaundice. The boy was admitted to the newborn care unit of the DHH, Tuesday. Tikli had come out of the ward for a few minutes Thursday to attend to a doctor. On her return, she found the boy missing and in his place, a baby girl lying in the cot.
She immediately raised an alarm, but said that initially the security personnel and nurses in the ward did not pay much heed to her. “Had they acted promptly, my boy could have been saved,” she lamented. Later, Susant informed the CDMO and complained the police outpost inside the hospital. Police rushed to the spot and launched an investigation. Questions are being raised as to how someone could steal the newborn when two CCTV cameras are installed within the ward and in presence of security staff.
