Baby stolen from hospital as defunct CCTVs look on

VIJAYAWADA: In a shocking incident, a five-day-old infant went missing from the maternity ward of the old Government General Hospital here on Thursday. According to the hospital authorities, I Kalyani (26), a resident of Kothapet locality in Vijayawada, delivered a baby boy at the the hospital five days back. As the baby was born healthy, Kalyani was discharged from the hospital soon after delivery. On July 13, the infant was admitted to hospital due to ill health. Doctors examined the infant and diagnosed the baby to be suffering from jaundice. The infant was kept in an incubator. On Thursday, Kalyani fed her baby thrice in the morning and when she went to the rest room and returned, the baby went missing from the incubator. Alarmed, Kalyani informed her husband who rushed to question the hospital authorities. This happened around 11 a.m. As the news spread, hospital staff closed the gates and conducted a search, but in vain. Though there were two CCTV cameras installed near the maternity ward, both of them were defunct. Hence, it is being  suspected that the one who allegedly kidnapped the infant must have known about it. Meanwhile, other patients in the ward claim that a young woman with her face hidden behind a scarf had entered the ICU when Kalyani went to rest room. They thought that women was an attendant. After receiving a complaint, police went to the hospital and started investigation. Police said that the two CCTV cameras installed in the maternity ward are not functioning and they can not get a video footage of what had happened in the ICU ward. A case under the IPC Section 363 (kidnap) has been registered by the police based on a complaint from infant's mother, Kalyani. "We suspect that it is the handiwork of an organized gang. The boy is not well and we are also worried over his health," Old Government Hospital Resident Medical Officer Ramesh said. Meanwhile, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, currently on visit to Russia came to know of the incident and inquired with the officials. He directed the ministers and officials concerned to conducted an inquiry into the incident. On the other hand, Left party activisits along with family members of the missing baby staged protest demonstration on the hospital premises demanding hospital authorites to initiate efforts to restore the baby safely to the mother at the earliest.