Two day-old baby kidnapped from Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A two-day-old male baby of a daily wage worker who was brought to Niloufer Hospital for treatment was kidnapped by an unidentified woman at 10.40 am. The baby was brought to Niloufer from Petlaburj Maternity Hospital because it was in poor health.

A woman who called herself Manju accompanied N. Nirmala from the maternity hospital to the children’s hospital. Nirmala had delivered a baby boy on October 20 at the maternity hospital, but the child was unwell and was referred to Niloufer for further treatment.

Manju befriended Nirmala at the maternity hospital and insisted that she would take the child at the time of discharge. The administration at Petlaburj refused to hand over the baby to Manju stating that only the biological mother can take the child. Both women then hired an autorickshaw and went to Niloufer with the medical recommendation from Petlaburj Hospital.

According to the guidelines, a health worker must accompany the mother and newborn from one section of the hospital to another. But due to the distance and non-availability of staff this was not done. At Niloufer, doctors examined the child in the out-patients’ department and returned it to the mother.

Once they were outside, Manju asked Nirmala for some water and took the child while Nirmala went to fetch the water from inside the hospital. When she returned, Manju and the baby had vanished. A complaint was lodged at Charminar police station by Nirmala’s mother under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code. CCTV cameras have captured footage of the woman and the police are working on leads.