Narrating this to journalists in Jos, the State capital, the mother of the missing child, Mary Chukwuebuka, said, “I’m 30 years old, I came to the hospital on Monday (27 May, 2019) to deliver my baby. I have being coming for antenatal and that day I came and they said I am due to deliver, the doctor referred me to Gaenocology Emergency and I told them that I have nobody at home, I had to go back home and pick my things and the doctor permitted me to and I came back.
“When I came back, I was induced after some hours, and I gave birth on Tuesday in the morning at 3:47am after severe bleeding.
“I was to be given blood transfusion and my husband was not around, and I called my mother to go and look for money and we didn’t get money to buy the blood, but we got a donor who donated blood to me, but it didn’t work and the nurse agreed to get blood for me and the transfusion was done for Wednesday and Thursday and it finished on Friday morning and the doctors requested that I should be given another blood but I told them that I am not financially buoyant and they considered my plea because there was nobody that is helping me.
She explained further that, “In the evening, the doctor came, and I was expecting him to discharge me but he said that they are going to run another test, and he asked if I was given any form and I said no. He said that they will bring the form in the morning to run the test.
“However, another lady came around 6pm, when she came, she move straight to me on the bed and asked where is the baby? The lady said that they are supposed to get the blood of the baby and demanded to carry the baby to go and collect the blood and I gave her the baby on trust that she was a doctor.
“I wanted to undressed the baby but she told me to stop, that she will take her to the children’s ward to take the blood, she asked me to tell my mother to follow her to collect the baby; but on the way, she sent my mother back and that when they finish, she will send for her to come and collect the baby and my mother came back.
“After sometime, I was hearing the cry of the baby and I told my mother that are they taken the blood up to an hour, a patient that I was together with her was coming from the children’s ward, and I asked her if she saw my baby in the children’s ward and she said that she didn’t see the baby but there as an empty bed there.”
According to her, “I Immediately stood up and went there but there was no child and the lady was not there, I came back and reported immediately to the nurses and they started searching. The nurses searched and didn’t see the baby and the woman.
“The hospital authority called the Police and reported the matter and I called my husband to come so that we can all go to the station to give statement but they said no that they will go.
“The hospital management and the police went to the station and we waited for them in the hospital and the police came in later and took my statement.
“Since then, they stopped treating me and I have being in the hospital doing nothing and no treatment, nobody is attending to me”, the weeping mother lamented.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Philemon Golwa, however confirmed the incident, saying it could be linked to a woman who visited the hospital prior to the disappearance to say she was pregnant.
Golwa however explained that the medical examination carried on the woman had revealed a false pregnancy but the woman and a man claiming to be her husband had caused a scene before leaving the hospital.
“The nurses then advised all the patients to be careful with their babies after that incident only for us to hear that a woman dressed as a hospital staff had abducted a baby and the mother did not notify the hospital until about an hour later,” he said.
The CMD said the hospital was checking from its records to get information about the woman who pretended to be pregnant while the Police had been involved and were investigating the matter.
When contacted about the incident, the spokesman of the State Police Command, DSP Mathias Tyopev Terna, said the Command is aware of the incident and that investigation is ongoing.
Terna said, “We will issue a statement concerning the incident tomorrow, because we don’t want to talk, so that we don’t jeopardize the ongoing investigation.”
