MANILA, Philippines—The Manila police have started looking for a woman who posed as a nurse in a government-run hospital and then stole the baby of a mother who had just given birth.
An artist’s sketch of the woman, which was distributed to the different units of the Manila Police District (MPD), showed her to be in her early 20s, around five feet tall, of heavy build and with fair skin.
At the same time, the police warned women who had just given birth in the city’s hospitals to beware of fake nurses and to keep a close eye on their newborns.
Chief Inspector Anita Araullo, of the MPD’s Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk, told the Inquirer that the babies were being taken so that they could be sold.
“We are not yet sure where these kidnappers sell the stolen babies. But several similar incidents have been reported to our office. Most of the babies [have been] recovered but newborn infants are more difficult to locate,” Araullo said.
She added that the women who were victimized did not have anybody watching over them in the hospital.
The fake nurse was tagged in the disappearance of a newborn baby girl at Ospital ng Maynila on Thursday afternoon.
The mother of the baby girl, a teenager, said she was sleeping in the maternity ward when a woman in a nurse’s uniform but without a name tag woke her up and told her that she was taking her baby away to be weighed.
However, when her baby was not returned to her the following day, the teenager became worried especially when the nurses on duty told her that she could go home. When she asked them about her baby, none of the nurses could account for the infant.
The teenager and her live-in partner immediately sought the help of the hospital director who ordered a search and an investigation.
The kidnapping was also reported to the police.
Last month, another baby was stolen from a woman confined at Ospital ng Sampaloc. The victim, who was also by herself, claimed that a woman who said she was looking after another patient, offered to take care of her. The woman, however, later disappeared with her baby.
The MPD said that aside from the two cases, three other babies had also been reported kidnapped in the city.