Newborn Missing From Odisha Hospital Found, 2 Women Including ASHA Worker Held

Balasore: Police detained two women, including an accredited social health activist (ASHA), in connection with the alleged abduction of a newborn from Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital (FM MCH) in Odisha’s Balasore after rescuing the baby from Jaleswar.

According to sources, Anita Dandpat, wife of Purnachandra Dantapat of Kulhachada village in Baliapal block, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday morning following labour pain. She gave birth to a baby boy on the same day.

Anita and her newborn were later shifted to the mother and child care ward. On Sunday afternoon, when Anita and her newborn were alone in the ward as her family members went out to fetch water, a woman accompanied by ASHA worker came to her and asked her to handover the one-day-old baby for mandatory vaccination.

Anita handed over her baby as the ASHA worker asked her to do so but when the woman did not return after a long time, family members confronted the ASHA worker. But she did not respond. They then filed a complaint in the police outpost on the hospital campus following which CCTV footages were checked in which the woman was seen taking the baby out from the ward.

Later, police rescued the newborn from Jaleswar and detained both the woman for questioning.

On April 4, in a similar incident, an eight-day-old baby boy was allegedly stolen from the special newborn care unit of the hospital. Police later rescued the baby from Durgadevi village.