Paramedic ‘stole baby for aunt who wanted child’, police claim

A hospital worker in Pakistan has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a new-born baby to give to a family member, according to reports.

New mother Jamila Bibi came home with one baby after giving birth in a hospital in Balochistan province and took a few days to fully regain consciousness.

When Ms Bibi had started to recover, she asked family members where “the other girl was”, her brother-in-law Abdul Hamid told the BBC.

The family said they were not aware she had given birth to twins. “We were stunned," Mr Hamid said.

The baby the mother had returned home with initially died while she was still recovering at home, according to reports.

"After Abdul Hamid filed a police complaint, we arrested the female paramedic who was on duty at the delivery room that night, and she led us straight to where the baby was," Jahangir Shah from Loralai police station told the BBC.

"She had been helped by two other colleagues to smuggle the baby out of hospital and give it to her aunt who was married 17 years but was still without a child.”

He said: “The nurse told us her aunt had been badly wanting to adopt a baby."

The mother has reportedly been reunited with her child. The four women accused of involvement in the kidnapping of the baby have been arrested, police said.

In 2017, a baby disappeared from a hospital in Florida when she was only eight hours old.

Police said they discovered her alive and well as an 18-year-old living with a woman she believed was her mother, who was then arrested in connection with the abduction.