New born baby stolen from Tororo Hospital

Tororo

The police have started investigations into the circumstances under which a new born baby was reportedly stolen from Tororo Hospital.

The baby’s mother, Ms Jemima Alima, 21, has refused to leave the hospital without her child.
The baby boy, who was born on the morning of Wednesday, is reported to have been stolen the same day while his mother was asleep. The incident came to light when police received a call from the hospital staff that a child was stolen in hospital by an unidentified woman under unknown circumstances.

Mr Micheal Odongo, the Bukedi regional police spokesperson, confirmed the incident, saying they have launched investigations into the matter to establish how the child could have been stolen from the hospital. “Cases of this nature are becoming rampant in government hospitals.If established that there was an element of connivance with hospital staff, then this will be a different story,” Mr Odongo said.

One arrested
Mr Odongo said they have already arrested the mother-in-law to help police with investigations. Preliminarily investigations indicated that the suspect reportedly connived with an unidentified woman to steal the baby from the mother after noticing that she was deep asleep. “We suspect that the mother-in-law connived with the unidentified woman to steal the baby,” Mr Odongo said.

Early last week, the media was awash with stories of a former senior house officer at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Dr Asinja Kapuru, who was arrested for allegedly plotting with other outsiders to steal a baby seven years ago.

The Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council suspended Dr Kapuru for his role in the disappearance of the baby. In their ruling, the council chairperson, Prof Joel Okullo, said the doctor was guilty of gross professional misconduct after he admitted to altering medical records to show that the mother had delivered a girl.