Newborn baby stolen from Mbarara hospital
By Tracy Oiko Acen and Gilbert Akampa
REGIONAL
Confusion engulfed Mbarara University Hospital on Friday last week after a mother ran amok screaming all over the ward, searching for her missing newly-born baby.
The baby girl was stolen by an unknown woman who first befriended its mother, Jean Asingyire, 36 and her mother in-law identified as Medius Kasande.
Halson Kagure, the Public Relations Officer at Mbarara hospital says the stranger tricked the two ladies into believing that health workers were about to leave mothers who hadn’t taken their newborn babies for vaccination in the Child Clinic at the Out Patients’ Department of the hospital.
Asingyire who had been referred to Mbarara hospital due to rapture uterus following a successful caesarean section delivery gave the baby to her mother-in-law to take it to the clinic for vaccination meanwhile as she went to do an ultra-sound scan for her swollen breast.
In a Child clinic, explains Kagure, the mother-in-law failed to provide the details needed by the medics and returned to the Ward where she reunited with baby’s mother from scanning.
Asingyire went to the clinic to provide the details but had no a baby and the medics advised her to present both a discharge form and the baby for vaccination.
However, to her surprise she found when the baby was missing in the ward prompting her to inform the ward staff who in turn informed security and the hospital administration.
It is reported that the stranger had returned to the ward and picked the baby from the grandmother guising to take it for vaccination, unfortunately, she smuggled it out of the hospital.
Kagure further revealed that neither the baby’s mother nor her mother-in-law identified the suspect which has made it difficult for security to track her. He added that the hospital does not allow interactions between strangers and patients urging patients to stay away from masqueraders and use only identified health workers and staff in uniforms.
“This is a very unfortunate incident. The Hospital Administration is working closely with all the parties involved in trying to recover and reunite the baby with the family,” Kagure said.
By press time, the police had already instituted efforts to help the family in recovering the baby.
The hospital administration has appealed to members of the general public who may have any information leading to the recovery of the baby to share it with the Police or the Hospital Administration.
