Mother agonises over loss of day-old baby

Fort Portal

A 22-year-old mother, who allegedly lost her one-day-old baby in Fort Portal Hospital last week is suing the facility for negligence.

Ms Rosette Komuhangi, a resident of Nyabitusa village, Busingye parish in Nkoma Sub-county, Kamwenge District, has refused to leave the maternity ward unless the hospital administration gives her the baby. She gave birth to a baby girl on September 11 at the same hospital. “I was taken to the theatre where I gave birth but I was surprised to hear from the nurses that my baby had gone missing” she told Daily Monitor.

She said the nurses told her that her baby had been allegedly taken by a woman who pretended to be attending to her during birth. The suspect is from Rugonjo in Bigodi Sub-county, Kamwenge District. But Ms Komuhangi told Daily Monitor that she does not know the suspect, a woman she met in the hospital.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Charles Olaro, confirmed the incident.

Arrested, then escaped
He said the kidnapper was first arrested with the baby by security guards at the main gate at around 4am on September 12. “The guards brought back the purported attendant to the ward but later she escaped from the hospital with the baby through the hind gate at around 6am,” he told Daily Monitor.

The officer-in-charge of criminal investigations, Mr Joseph Ssentamu Bitali, said; “The police have launched investigations to have the kidnapper arrested, we are raking her.” Asked about the possible motive of the kidnapper, Mr Bitali said, “May be the kidnapper wanted to appease her husband or could be a case of child sacrifice.”