QASIMI HOSPITAL TO TIGHTEN SECURITY FOLLOWING BABY KIDNAP ATTEMPT

Ahmed Saleh, Deputy Director for Administrative Affairs at the hospital told Khaleej Times yesterday.

He said that to step up surveillance, the hospital will install cameras in the wards where the newborn are kept. Saleh added that security officials at the hospital have been instructed to comply with the security measures, which also include strict implementation of visiting hours; restriction on visitors staying over at the hospital, except in special cases involving emergencies; as well as keeping a check on the access to the facility.

The kidnap attempt was the first of its kind to occur in the hospital, Saleh noted. A woman came to the Al Qasimi Hospital on Monday during the visiting hours with the intention of kidnapping the child, and stayed over, hiding herself from security personnel there. At 4am on Tuesday, the kidnapper picked up the child after she entered room number 13 and found the child and the mother fast asleep. On her way out of the hospital, with the kidnapped child in her bag, she was stopped and questioned by three nurses — Hamda Ahmed, Jenin Solano, and Karima Musa — who work at the Gynaecology department. The presence of the woman, a stranger at the hospital, and her suspicious manner prompted the trio to call the security personnel, who in turn called in the police.

The accused, according to preliminary investigation, claimed to be a practising medical doctor and said that she tried to kidnap the child because she is childless. The Hira police station is still investigating the case, but it has not yet been referred to public prosecution.

Saleh said that the mother and the child are in good condition and have left after having stayed at the hospital for 24 hours. He said that the woman wanted a child badly and is suffering, but it is utterly inhuman for someone to seek happiness without consideration for the sentiments of others.

Hamda told Khaleej Times that, she, along with her two colleagues, saw the woman coming to the ward and they thought she was visiting the Radiology section or she was probably someone accompanying a patient. “She went towards one of the rooms (where sonography etc are conducted) and we didn’t think much about it; but there was a brief moment when a baby could be heard crying, and that got our attention. We waited for the mother to come out of the room... at the same time, we saw the woman go from the right of the aisle to the left,” she added.

She said that when the woman saw Hamda observing her, she covered the plastic bag she was carrying with her purse. “I immediately removed her purse and we saw there was a baby in the plastic bag, with his head visible from the opening. The woman began to apologise profusely for what she was trying to do, and kept disconnecting the phone when we tried to call the police,” she said.

Hamda said: “I took the woman (kidnapper) and the child to the room from where she had picked him. I asked the mother to confirm if the baby was hers and she confirmed it, but we did not tell her what had happened while she was fast asleep. It was the police who informed her about the kidnap attempt the next day and she couldn’t believe it.”

The mother and the baby were fortunate, Hamda said, explaining that the kidnapper did not see another door, which could have safely led her out of the hospital. The Sharjah Police, when contacted, declined to release the name of the kidnapper or the hospital she works in.