3-day-old baby stolen from Plateau hospital

Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos

A three-day -old baby girl has been allegedly stolen from the Plateau Specialist Hospital in Jos, Plateau state.

Narrating this to journalists in Jos, the mother of the missing child, Mary Chukwuebuka, said that she was delivered of her missing child on May 28, but after delivery she was scheduled to receive blood transfusion due to the induced delivery.

“I was to be given blood transfusion and my husband was not around, but we got a donor, who donated blood for me, but it didn’t work and the nurse agreed to get blood for me and the transfusion was subsequently, done for three days.

“In the evening of the third day, the doctor came and I was expecting him to discharge me, but he said that they were going to run another test and asked if I was given any form and I said no. He said that they will bring the form in the morning to run the test.

“However, another lady came around 6pm, when she came she moved straight to me on the bed and asked where the baby is?

The lady said that they are supposed to get the blood from the baby and demanded to carry the baby to go and collect the blood and I gave her the baby on trust that she was a doctor.

“I wanted to undress the baby, but she told me to stop, that she will take her to the children’s ward to take the blood.

She asked me to tell my mother to follow her to collect the baby, but on the way she sent my mother back on the excuse that when they finish, she will send for her to come and collect the baby and my mother came back,” she stated.

Mrs. Chukwuebuka added that after some time without her baby being returned to her, she asked a fellow patient who was just coming from the children’s ward where the baby was supposedly taken, only for the patient to answer in the negative.

“I immediately stood up and went there, but there was no child and the lady was not there. I came back and reported immediately to the nurses and they started searching. The nurses searched and didn’t see the baby and the woman.

“The hospital authority called the police and reported the matter and I called my husband to come so that we can all go to the station to give statement.

The hospital’s management and the police went to the station and we waited for them in the hospital and the police came in later and took my statement.

“Since then, they have stopped treating me and I have being in the hospital doing nothing and no treatment; nobody is attending to me,” the weeping mother lamented.

Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Philemon Golwa, confirmed the incident, saying it could be linked to a woman who visited the hospital prior to the disappearance of the baby under the pretext that she was pregnant.

Upon examination, Dr. Golwa said the hospital authorities discovered that she wasn’t pregnant, but that the woman and a man claiming to be her husband caused a scene before leaving the hospital.

“The nurses then advised all the patients to be careful with their babies after that incident only for us to hear that a woman dressed as a hospital staff had abducted a baby and the mother did not notify the hospital until about an hour later,” he said.

He disclosed that the hospital was checking from its records to get information about the woman who pretended to be pregnant while the police had been involved and were investigating the matter.

When contacted about the incident, the spokesman of the state police command, Mathias Terna, said the Command is aware of the incident and that investigation is ongoing.

Terna said that “We will issue a statement concerning the incident tomorrow because we don’t want to talk, so that we don’t jeopardize the ongoing investigation.”