2-day-old baby snatched from gov’t hospital in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A woman wearing a uniform of a medical personnel snatched a two-day-old infant from the government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City  past noon on Monday.

The hospital management asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Fuente Police Station 2 of the Cebu City Police Office to investigate the snatching, arrest the woman and recover the baby.

The baby, Prince Niño Celadenia, was born on Jan. 2 and was already with his mother Jayvee, 27, at the Child Survival Center, VSMMC ward for newly born babies of the hospital.

Jayvee and her husband Jonathan were processing their Philhealth benefit since the baby was supposed to be discharged from the hospital on Monday.

A woman dressed in white scrub suit told Jayvee that she had to take her baby to the laboratory so she could extract blood sample.

Jayvee relented because she thought the woman was a medical personnel.

But Jayvee and Jonathan became worried when several minutes had passed but the baby had not been returned to them.

When they checked at the laboratory, they learned that there was no request for blood extraction for their son.

Nonoy Mongaya, information officer of VSMMC, said they coordinated with the NBI and Police Station 2 and turned over the CCTV footages.

The first footage showed the woman wearing an all-white uniform and with a face mask carrying the baby at the laboratory section.

The second footage showed the same woman but without any face mask, bringing the baby and passing the billing section of the hospital.

The third footage showed the same woman carrying the baby and passing the cashier’s area as she was heading toward the exit of the hospital near the trauma section.

Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., VSMMC chief, is offering a cash reward for those who can give information leading to the identity and arrest of the woman.

But Mongaya could not say how much was the cash reward.  SFM