FAISALABAD, April 24: The Punjab government suspended the medical superintendent of the Allied Hospital following the abduction of a newborn from the hospital on April 23, who was recovered after a few hours, sources said on Thursday.

They said the provincial health secretary, following the report of infant’s kidnap, constituted a committee comprising additional medical superintendent of the Allied Hospital Dr Shahid Iqbal, Dr Yousaf Shah and Dr Asghar Butt to conduct a probe into the matter.

The committee in its report submitted to the Principal Dr Asghar Ali Randhawa for onward submission to the Punjab government held Majidan Bibi, grandmother of the newborn, responsible for the incident.

The committee which prepared the report within a few hours, however, did not hold the MS, Dr Khalid Mehmood, responsible for the incident, the sources said.

Following Dr Khalid’s suspension, District Headquarters Hospital MS Dr Imtiaz Hamid has been given the additional charge of the Allied Hospital.

According to the father, Aslam, who lodged a complaint with Civil Lines police, his wife Shamim Akhtar gave birth to a baby boy at the Gynecology Ward of the hospital some three days ago. The newborn was with his grandmother at the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) for vaccination when an unidentified man, posing as hospital staff, asked Majidan Bibi to fetch a slip from the counter and took the baby from her. When the grandmother returned, the man had fled away along with the baby.

The sources said the baby was later spotted in Ali Housing Colony by some passersby who called police. The police handed over the newborn to his parents.

Earlier, the outgoing medical superintendent had suspended a head nurse, Najma Bibi, for dereliction of duty following the incident.

Punjab Medical College Principal, who is also head of the hospital, confirmed the suspension of Dr Khalid and said security had been beefed up in and around the children wards.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Khalid said he took all required measures for recovery of the baby, and held the grandmother responsible for the incident.

However, he remained tight-lipped over the decision of his suspension.