Hospital puts anti-abduction system in maternity ward

Hospital puts anti-abduction system in maternity wardBy Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: January 29, 2008, 23:39

Dubai: Dubai's only public maternity hospital implemented a system to prevent baby theft after some babies were abducted from their bassinet, Gulf News has learnt.
A security bracelet is attached to the babies' ankles that have a sensory barcode which is linked to all nursery stations and security offices at Al Wasl Hospital, which implemented it last year.

Diaa Hassan, Consultant, Quality and International Accreditation, Al Wasl Hospital, told delegates at the Hospital Design and Upgrade Conference at Arab Health that the anti-abduction system is a standard procedure required by the Joint Committee International.

"The baby anti-abduction system has been implemented for the past year, and there were two to three cases of abduction in the country," she said, but refused to elaborate.

The most publicised baby snatching case in the UAE was in December 2005, when an Indian doctor abducted a new-born Iraqi boy at Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah. A nurse spotted the doctor walking away with the baby and alerted the authorities. The gynaecologist served six months in jail followed by deportation.

With regard to preventing hospital-acquired infections, Hassan said that it was difficult to prevent because the maternity ward is always receiving many family members. "It is difficult to control the number of visitors at the hospital because of the culture in the region. When someone delivers all the family comes in," she said.

She noted that it was highly unlikely for patients to receive hospital acquired infections because all infectious cases are transferred to Rashid Hospital.