What guidelines followed to prevent child thefts, court asks state, BMC

A division bench of justice B H Marlapalle and Justice U D Salvi was hearing the petition filed by Mohan and Malini Nerurkar after their three-day-old son was stolen from the Sion Hospital. The infant was stolen from the maternity ward on January 1, 2009, when Mohini allegedly went to the rest room, asking the women next to her to look after her baby.

Acting on the petition, the High Court had pulled up the authorities including the police, the BMC and state government for the security lapses at hospitals.

To avoid any such incident in future, the court had on May 6, 2010, framed several guidelines to be implemented in the municipal-run, semi-government and government hospitals in Maharashtra.

One of the 234 remedial measures to be implemented by the hospitals was installation of a computerized biometrics system to record foot-prints, finger-prints and birth marks, if any, within two hours of the child’s birth or admission.

Guidelines

*Postnatal patients allowed to leave the ward only for CT Scan, X-Rays or sonography. All references to the other specialties are attended in the ward itself.

*CCTV cameras at entry and exit points; sensitive areas of the hospital.

*Security guards round the clock outside children’s ward. Female security guards inside the wards with walky-talkies to contact other staff members in case of emergency. 

*Public Address System in the ward and passages.

*Matching identification bands attached to the infant, mother and father containing numbers. Only authorized female visitor to be allowed in the maternity ward at night.