RAWALPINDI, Sept 10: A newborn baby boy was stolen from Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Monday, police and the baby’s relatives said.

They said a woman posing herself as a hospital staff member entered the ward (No 5) on the third floor of the hospital at about 2pm, picked the infant from his mother’s bed and walked away.

Ms Aksa, 19, wife of Mehrban Hussain, a resident of Kanva village in Kalar Syedan, delivered her first baby at 12.40pm on Sunday Deputy Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr Sheikh Amir said Ms Aksa was lying on her bed and her three attendants -  mother-in-law, mother and husband - were on her bedside when the woman, aged between 20 and 22, took away the baby saying he had to be administered the first vaccination dose.

“At about 3.15pm, the father of the baby contacted the hospital administration but it was too late. However, the security staff and police were alerted and people leaving the hospital were stopped at the main gate for checking,” Dr Amir said. The police have also been handed over the CCTV footage from the surveillance cameras, he added.According to the standard operating procedure, women who deliver newborn babies are allowed to leave the ward only after verification of their discharge slips by a ward boy.

When contacted, the father of the missing baby told Dawn that his first baby had been stolen from the hospital bed. He said neither he had enmity with anyone nor suspected any hospital staff for the incident.

Meanwhile, after the incident the attendants of Ms Aksa started blaming each other for slackness besides holding the hospital staff responsible.