Media reports suggest that there is an increase in the kidnapping and stealing of babies in both private and government hospitals in Nigeria. 

This is largely attributed to security lapses in most hospitals in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has however debunked claims that this is so.

The Secretary General of Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Akpufuoma Pemu, has denied that there are increasing cases of child theft in hospitals, saying that most children are either stolen from the school or the market.

“I disagree with you that there are increasing incidences of child theft in hospitals. If you read the papers like I do, most children are stolen from schools, markets, and even from the neighbourhood.”

(READ: Good samaritan disappears with week-old baby)

Newspaper reports however ‘may suggest’ that this is not true.

One victim narrated her story to Leadership Newspaper. Mrs Margaret Okoduwa (not real name) was pregnant with twins, however because she went into premature labour, she had to have her babies delivered by Caeserean section.

The hospital claimed that one of her babies died and refused to allow either her husband nor other members of her family to see the corpse.

Margaret who is in her early 30′s, however discovered that the hospital must have sold one of her babies. According to her:

“After the Caesarean surgery, I was very weak until the next day when I regained consciousness. And that was when I demanded to see my babies, but the nurse told me that my babies were alright, that I should get better first before seeking to see the babies.

 

“After much pressure on her, she told me that their incubator was not functioning, so they kept the babies in another hospital’s incubator.

 

“I asked my husband if he had gone to see our babies, but he told me that the hospital management (where I was admitted) said that nobody should disturb the babies, that they were fine. They also told him that I needed to be strong first before going to check on the babies.” She continued.

 

“After some days, I insisted that they must take me to the hospital. So, we went there. At that hospital (name withheld), it became difficult for the management to tell me the whereabouts of my children, and we almost engaged in a fight before they opened up.

 

“The doctor later took me to the incubator, but surprisingly, I saw only one baby instead of two. When I asked about the second one, he said that he died and his body was deposited in the mortuary. When we went to the mortuary, the attendant told me that I needed to be strong first that I could not go inside the mortuary. She explained.

 

“After much pressure from my husband and I, the mortuary attendant showed me the register of corpses deposited in the mortuary. So, I saw the child’s name inside. When I demanded to see his corpse, it was another game entirely. But finally, he told me that the baby melted in the mortuary. What a funny story.

Leadership Newspaper also reports that recently in the Irona area of Ado- Ekiti in Ekiti State, gunmen stormed a government-owned hospital and allegedly demanded for the staff to produce all the day-old babies.

They were reported to have dealt severely with the hospital staff members for refusing to identify a particular baby. The incident was said to have happened on a Sunday morning and left many perplexed about the type of security personnel employed to guard the hospital.

While the security lapses at some Nigerian hospitals occur, it is also reported that many incidents of child theft may be attributed to laxity on the part of health workers, ‘as some of them connive with ritualists and kidnappers to steal babies, especially twins’, usually under the pretext that one of the babies died immediately after childbirth.

One health worker at the National Hospital, Abuja who has chosen to remain anonymous commented that:

 ”The health workers who have become obsessed with money will not turn down the offer, all because of greed and much desire for worldly things.

Commenting on this issue, the Head of Information Management at the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr Jacob Adetayo Haastrup, has called on the Ministry of Health to include the purchase of CCTV cameras in the health sector budget, saying that time is ripe for hospitals to install CCTV cameras in hospitals and other strategic locations in the country.

“We will appreciate it, if the ministry of health should include CCTV cameras in the health sector budget, that hospitals will like to install their CCTV cameras, because I think it’s ripe to do so.

 

“If we are witnessing these entirely devilish acts, then time is ripe for hospitals to install their CCTV cameras, even to monitor the movement of everybody, staff members and all these people with devilish intentions that are coming to the hospitals.

 

“It is important that we have CCTV cameras in all the hospitals as well as important places, because where CCTV cameras are used in developed countries, it minimises criminal activities. So, it is recommended for hospitals and other strategic places in the country.”

Dr Akpufuoma Pemu,  Secretary General of Nigerian Medical Association, however believes that installing CCTV cameras in labour wards is uncalled for. He told newsmen that:

“I don’t think you, as a woman, will feel comfortable with a CCTV camera looking down at you when you are in the delivery room, or will you? The issue of closed circuit cameras is not a prerogative of labour rooms and hospitals, but rather a national emergency in view of the parlous security situation that pervades the country.”

 

“Like I said earlier, the insecurity in the nation is not peculiar to hospitals. I believe that once there is adequate security nationally, the hospitals will be secured, as this will reduce the incidence of vandals coming to the hospitals, and it will also reduce the incidence of health workers being beaten up by hoodlums.”

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