Balasore: A newborn baby boy was reportedly stolen from the Maternity ward of Balasore District Hospital Headquarters on Sunday.
As per reports, Anita, wife of Purnachandra Dandpat from Kulachad village, had been admitted to the hospital for delivery late last night. She was accompanied by her mother-in-law and Asha worker Sandhyarani Jena. Anita gave birth to a baby boy at around 12:00 am.
This morning, an unidentified woman approached Anita and held her child. She was seen conversing with local Asha worker Sandhyarani Jena. When Sandhyarani and Anita’s mother-in-law were absent from the ward, the unknown woman allegedly took the child from the bed under the pretext of taking him to the doctor. The woman did not return thereafter.
Upon discovering the incident, Anita’s in-laws lodged a complaint at the hospital police outpost about the child theft. The police checked the CCTV footage and seized the footage of the unknown woman’s movements while detaining and questioning Sandhyarani and the hospital’s security guards.
A few months ago in a similar case, a child was stolen from the doctor’s office. The child, Durga Devi, was later rescued by the police from the area. There are suspicions that some hospital staff and health workers may be involved in these repeated child thefts from the hospital.
