Tagging newborns

For years beyond count there has been a significant problem regarding the theft of newborn children from particularly public hospitals. These events rarely make the headlines and when they do the distressed parents are in focus for five minutes then disappear. Sometimes, particularly with the advent of CCTV, it is possible to identify the thief and catch them, but often it is not and babies disappear never to be seen again. The motives for the theft of a baby in this way are varied — sometimes it is a woman so distressed by her own inability both to conceive and give birth to a child that she steals one, or a woman who has lost a child and seeks to replace it. Theft for the purposes of sale is not uncommon either, with babies being ‘stolen to order’ sometimes with the complicity of corrupt staff at the hospital.

All of the above can and do happen and hospitals take measures to prevent this crime, not always successfully therefore we welcome the decision to introduce a radio frequency identification (RFID) system in an effort to prevent the abduction of newborns. The system is not new in global terms and is used already in some private hospitals in Pakistan, and it is relatively cheap and effective. The Punjab Health Department has decided to trial it at the Services Hospital later this month followed by other hospitals if the trials are successful.

Each newborn is tagged with a bracelet within minutes of birth as is the mother of the child, the bracelets operating on the same frequency. If a child is taken out of a designated area this triggers an alert and an alarm will sound. Identical systems are used successfully in India and are commonplace in the developed world where newborn abductions are now exceedingly rare. To a degree this is Pakistan playing catch-up and it can be argued that the system should have been in place years ago — it is not difficult to install or manage. That said we wish every success to the trials and hope that this vile crime can be effectively countered.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2018.

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