LAHORE: Police claimed on Sunday to have recovered a newborn baby girl and arrested five suspects, including three women, allegedly involved in her kidnapping.

The newborn daughter of Hassan Nadeem of Daroghawala had been kidnapped from the gynae ward of the Services Hospital on Dec 8. After Nadeem’s wife had given birth, the hospital staff had handed over the newborn to the family outside the labour room. A woman, impersonating as an employee of the health facility, took the baby on the pretext of a check-up and disappeared.

The disappearance came to the fore when the employee who had handed over the baby to Nadeem’s relatives returned to take back the girl to the nursery.

Medical Superintendent Dr Ameer Husain had also constituted a three-member committee to probe into the matter.

Capital City Police Officer retired Capt Amin Wains had taken notice of the incident and directed the authorities to recover the newborn and arrest the people involved.

Crime Record Officer Superintendent of Police (SP) Syed Abdul Raheem Sherazi while addressing a press conference said they had recovered the newborn and arrested five suspects identified as Kiran Kashif, Shazia Wazir, Iram Rasheed, Muzamil Zameer and Shaukat Ali.

He claimed an organised gang kidnapped newborns from various public hospitals and they were conducting raids to arrest its other members. The suspects confessed to their crime of kidnapping the newborn with the help of hospital staff who were identified through CCTV footage, he added.

Replying to a question, the SP said they had not found any previous record of the suspects and would further investigate.

Meanwhile, Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah stressed the need for strengthening the security system of hospitals.

He said doctors and other staff should display badges with their names on them for identification, and security staff should keep an eye on people coming to the health facilities.

He also advised patients and their attendants to be careful while interacting with unfamiliar people at hospitals.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017