The Ministry of Health is to put into effect a “safety bracelet” system for newborn babies to help prevent their abduction from hospitals.
The safety bracelet will be first introduced “in the next few days” at the Madina Children’s and Maternity Hospital from where the abduction of baby boy Anas in December prompted widespread dismay at hospital security. Abdullah Al-Taifi, the head of Health Affairs in Madina, said that proposals from human rights bodies had been taken into consideration.
“We thank them for their work in the public interest,” he said. “The abduction of newborn children can only be stopped through the introduction of modern technology, principally the security bracelet which is placed on children’s wrists as soon as they are born.” He said the scheme would be introduced at all maternity hospitals in the Kingdom, with the hospital in Madina being the first.
Anas was taken from his cot when he was less than 24 hours old by a woman first said to be Pakistani but now reported as of Burmese nationality. She had suffered a miscarriage at the hospital, and in a moment of opportunism snatched baby Anas and returned home claiming the child was her own.
A few days later she broke down and told the truth, and arranged with close relatives for the baby to be left on a city sidewalk after which they contacted the child’s parents.
The woman was traced by police soon after and arrested.
KHALID AL-JABARI
Saudi Gazette