MBOMBELA – A day-old baby was stolen from Rob Ferreira Hospital over the weekend. Brig Selvy Mohlala, spokesman for the provincial SAPS, confirmed on Monday that the baby boy had been stolen on Saturday.
According to Mohlala, he was born in the hospital the same day and he confirmed that the mother was 16 years old. Mr Dumisane Malamule, spokesman for the health department, said the department was investigating how the baby could be taken off the hospital premises.
“According to our preliminary report the mother was sleeping with the baby next to her. During visiting hours a person presented herself as a relative of the mother. The woman allegedly said she wanted to show the baby to its grandmother outside the hospital. The mother apparently agreed, even though she said she did not know her.”
Later one of the nurses asked her where the baby was and when it wasn’t returned, the matter was reported. Malamule said for a baby to be discharged from hospital the parents needed the baby’s health card as well as a discharge letter from the hospital and all babies wore a wristband with one of the parents’ names on it as identification.
“The department is scrutinising security at the time to see how they could have left the premises,” he said. He added that with construction going on at the hospital, the security cameras at the entrance gates were currently out of order.
Malamule said the mother, who has not been discharged, was too traumatised to speak to this newspaper about the matter, nor would she allow contact with her other family members. He said nothing was known about the baby’s father.
“As a department we are concerned that people hand over their babies to strangers. We urge parents not to do so.”
Mohlala confirmed the police were investigating a case of theft. Ms Jane Sithole, DA MPL, called on the police to prioritise the case to reunite the baby with
its mother.
“No parent deserve to experience such trauma. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this difficult time.”
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