Woman steals baby at Nasarawa hospital

A newborn baby

A yet-to-be-identified woman has allegedly stolen a newborn baby boy at the postnatal ward of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.

The mother of the one-day-old baby, Wosilat Suleiman, told newsmen that she was delivered the baby through Caesarean Section in the early hours of Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

Suleiman said: “My relation who was looking after me introduced the strange woman she met in the ward to me before she went home to pick something.

“She told me that the woman would take care of me and the baby before she returned from the house.

“My relation thought the woman had a patient at the ward and she trusted her to help us before she returned.

“The woman told me she wanted to bath the baby and disappeared with him.”

She appealed to relevant authorities to help her to find her baby, saying she was still going through pains.

Reacting to the incident, the hospital management expressed regret that the theft happened in spite of strict security measures put in place in the facility to protect patients and staff.

The hospital’s Acting Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Dr Mohammed Salihu, said it was the first time such incident would occurred in the hospital.

Salihu stated that Suleiman was delivered of the baby at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday, saying the baby was handed over to her relation before mother and child were transferred to the postnatal ward.

He added that the relative of the patient entrusted a strange woman to look after her sister on account that she wanted to pick something from the house.

He noted that the hospital management had reported the matter to the police, saying an investigation was ongoing to unravel the case.

“Already the relation of the mother of the baby has been arrested and some of our staff on duty were invited by the police for questioning,” Salihu added.

Salihu promised that the management would review the CCTV footage in the hospital to arrest the culprit.

The Star