Baby kidnapping case: Family might be involved as couple married for love

Four workers suspended, health secretary says they weren’t involved.

KARACHI:

A report on the newborn boy kidnapped from Civil Hospital, Karachi earlier this week was presented to Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed on Friday by Sindh Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi.

The report indicates suspicion that the young parents’ families might be involved. The baby’s parents, Jamila and Ghulam Fareed, married in court against their family’s wishes.

Investigators also suspect the involvement of the couple’s neighbour, Parveen, who came with them to the hospital. She took the baby from the gynaecology ward to the out-patients department (OPD) where she gave him away to someone. She was unable to identify the person she gave the baby to. She said that a strange, veiled woman in the OPD asked to vaccinate the baby, which is why she handed him over. However, the veiled woman disappeared with the child.

She is still being interrogated by the police but Ghulam Fareed insists that she is not involved in the kidnapping.

Dr Ahmed told the CCPO on Friday to form special teams to investigate the case. Meanwhile, Zaidi said that the hospital staff was not involved in the kidnapping.

Earlier, two doctors — including a female postgraduate doctor — were suspended on Thursday. Meanwhile, a security guard and a ward boy were also suspended for alleged negligence. There are 40 security guards hired from a private company to work at CHK. Investigating officials, including the health secretary and Special Health Secretary Dr Suresh Kumar, and others visited the hospital to record the statements of the staff. They also looked at the footage from the CCTV-cameras installed at the main gate of the hospital. The suspension of female doctors and other staff members would be reviewed, said Zaidi.

The suspended staff said that the gynaecologist was carrying out her duties in the delivery room when the incident happened. They said they did not stop the attendant from coming inside the room because they usually trust the attendants who are brought by patients. It was not the hospital staff but the neighbour who took the baby out of the hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.