Baby thefts: Hospital admin brings slew of security measures

Jammu, Feb 8 (PTI) In the backdrop of increasing cases of baby thefts, the SMGS Hospital administration here today came up with a slew of measures, including issuing a badge to the attendant accompanying the nursing mother, to check such incidents. "As you know, a badge is issued for each new born baby at the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NACO). Now we have decided to issue the same badge number to the attendant," Medical Superintendent Dr A K Sharma said. "Generally mothers are allowed to meet their babies and feed them, apart from her only that person who holds the same badge tied to the baby will be allowed to meet the new-born," he said. Asked what if someone claims that his or her badge has been lost and asks for the permission to meet the baby, Sharma said in such cases proper enquiry will be made. "In such cases the hospital administration will ensure that the child is in the hands of the right person. We will obviously make proper investigation before allowing anyone to come close to the infant," he said. Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Dara Singh informed that as a second line of defence they will be using ink marks to recognise the right person to hand over the baby. "Apart from using badges we are also looking to use ink marks to recognise the attendants accompanying the mothers," Singh said. He also said that in case a badge goes missing, the person will have to lodge a complaint at the police post at the hospital premises and will also need to inform the hospital administration about the same. "We have directed the security staff to stop and verify the identity of each person wearing a mask or with suspicious movement. We have also told them to ask people to look into the CCTV before entering the hospital," he said. A one-day-old baby had gone missing from the labour room of the hospital last week putting a question mark over the security arrangements. In a similar incident, in November last year, a baby had gone missing from ward number four of the hospital. PTI SNK SMI