MBALE – Police in Mbale District are investigating circumstances under which 3-week-old baby was reportedly stolen from Mbale regional referral hospital.
According to police, the baby was stolen on February 28, 2019, by unidentified woman, who is currently on the run.
This website has learnt that the said woman had disguised herself as an employee of the hospital.
The District Police Commander, Mr Mathias Turyasingura, confirmed the incident and said the mother of the baby, identified as Ms. Aisha Nafuna, entrusted the stranger with her baby, who later disappeared, while at the hospital.
Ms. Nafuna, a mother of the twins and is a resident of Mooni cell, Wanale Division in Mbale Municipality, had gone to the hospital to seek medication for one of her sick children.
“We have launched investigations to establish how the baby was stolen from the hospital but we also learnt that the mother entrusted one of her babies with the said a stranger, who later disappeared,” he said.
The Acting Elgon Region Police Spokesperson, Mr. Robert Tukei appealed to the public to volunteer information to help police to arrest the suspect and recover the baby.
“The general public should support the police with information in case they sight the suspect in their areas of residence,” he said, adding that the suspects will be found.
Mr. Tukei said according to the preliminary investigations, the woman used ungazzeted route to escape from the hospital.
He, however, added that they deployed more police officers at the hospitalto prevent such cases in future.
“We deployed more police officers and we have also asked the hospital to increase on the private security guards at the hospital,” he said.
The Director Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, Dr. Emmanuel Tugaineyo Ituuza, said when the victim visited the hospital with her twins but only one of the babies was sick.
“While in the hospital, she entrusted the stranger with one of her babies, who was not sick and took the sick baby for treatment but after treatment, she found the woman missing,” Dr. Tugaineyo, said.
He said he reported the case of child theft to Mbale Central Police Station for further investigation.
Dr. Tugaineyo said this is the first incident of a baby theft since 2017.
