IT’S a long-standing issue that hasn’t been able to attract the attention it merits: that of the kidnapping of newborns, usually from the hospital they were born in.

There are no aggregate numbers other than what can be gleaned from media reports, and barely anyone to keep track of whether the infants were recovered or not. On Thursday, the despicable crime was apparently committed yet again, this time in Lahore.

The baby’s family says that the boy, born a few hours earlier at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, was in the facility’s gynaecology ICU and his maternal aunt was attending to him. According to the father, staff on duty sent the aunt away to buy medicine, and was upon return informed that another woman proclaiming herself to be a relative had taken the baby away.

The family alleges corruption on part of the hospital staff, further complaining that neither the ICU duty staff nor the hospital gatekeeper bothered to check the identity of the purported ‘relative’. The hospital administration, for its part, claims that the mother herself handed the baby over to another woman.

An investigation has been promised and for the sake of the family, and the unfortunate boy himself; it is to be hoped that the matter doesn’t end up being dusted under the carpet.

The fact is that this crime has been reported sporadically from cities and towns across the country, from Peshawar to Karachi. In some cases, the kidnapped infant has been recovered; but in others, he or she has been lost forever. And while the eventual fate of such children cannot be guessed at, it is bound to be tragic — certainly, police have on occasion busted gangs involved in trafficking kidnapped babies.

It behoves hospital staff, therefore, to urgently step up vigilance and accept their responsibility. Families, too, need to be made aware of the unscrupulous elements that often haunt hospital corridors. This crime needs to be dragged out of the darkness and be made the focus of a concerted investigation.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2014