An unknown woman reportedly stole a baby from a post-natal ward of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital in Lafia, Nasarawa State on Tuesday.
The heartbroken mother of the new born baby boy, Mrs Wollisat Suleiman, told newsmen that she gave birth earlier that day through Caesarean Section.
A relative of hers was with her after the birth of the child and needed to go home to pick some things so she introduced the new mom to a woman she just met at the hospital and begged the woman to help care for the new mom until she returned.
Wosilat said, ” My relation that 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 will 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.”
The new mom appealed to relevant authorities to help her find her baby as she is still in pain.
Reacting to the baby theft, the management of the hospital lamented that the theft still happened despite security measures put in place in the facility to protect patients and staff.
The hospital’s Acting Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Dr Mohammed Salihu said it was the first time such theft was occuring in the hospital.
He confirmed that Wosilat gave birth to the baby around 3 am and the baby was handed over to her relation before the mother and child were transferred to postnatal ward..
Dr Salihu added that unfortunately, the relation of the patient trusted a strange woman to look after her sister on account that she wanted to pick something from the house.
He further stated that the hospital Management had reported the matter to the police and 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 assured that the management would review the CCTV footage in the hospital to arrest the culprit.
Reacting to the heart-wrenching story of how an unknown woman stole the baby, Netizens reacted thus:
Annie_grace said, baby wey person just stuffer born o.”
Dee_Aliyu said, “must the baby be bathed? Why would a mother trust a stranger with her baby?”
Patty_ify commented, “so the nurses in the hospital didn’t see a strange woman go out of the hospital with a Baby in her hand?”
Chanty_skitchen said, “My God, very traumatic for the parents of the child. May the woman be apprehended and the baby be returned safely.”