RAWALPINDI, April 22: A two-day-old baby boy was kidnapped from the District Headquarters Hospital here on Saturday. The kidnapper, dressed in a lady doctor’s uniform and wearing a scarf, entered the gynaecology ward where Samia Ghafoor, the mother of the baby, was getting ready to leave the hospital. The woman told Samia Ghafoor that her baby needed to be vaccinated and asked the Samia’s mother to follow her. Oblivious to what was going to happen, the grandmother left the ward with the baby for the vaccination room situated outside the emergency ward. The kidnapper, who seemed to be in her 30s, took the baby from his grandmother and asked her to bring the baby’s case file from the gynae ward. A few minutes later when the grandmother returned with the case file, the woman was missing along with the baby.

The police and doctors said the baby boy required urgent medical attention and needed to be traced immediately.

Medical Superintendent (MS) DHQ Hospital Dr Khalid Iqbal told Dawn that Samia Ghafoor, a resident of Chak Baili, was admitted to the gynae ward on Thursday where she delivered a baby at 9am on Friday. Later the newborn was shifted to the hospital nursery.

Dr Iqbal said Samia was discharged at 12 noon and was leaving the ward when the kidnapper trapped her. He said a departmental inquiry had been ordered while the police were also searching for the baby.

“The police have been asked to interrogate the hospital staff if they felt it necessary,” the MS said.

The kidnapper is of medium height and built and has a dark complexion. She was wearing blue shalwar kameez and a doctor’s overhaul.