42 newborn babies have gone missing from government hospitals in Tamil Nadu since 2006.
From next month, newborn babies in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu will get hi-tech protection. The baby, mother, and the attender will get radio frequency identification tags that would raise an alarm and alert the police if the baby is taken out of the ward.
"Even if any one of them goes away it would beep aloud and alert security and police as well. The location and route can be immediately traced and they can be stopped," said Dr Narayana Babu, Dean, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.
The move comes after warning boards and even CCTV cameras were not able to stop theft of babies from hospitals. 42 newborn babies have gone missing from government hospitals since 2006. No one knows what happened to at least 13 of them.
A newborn baby of the Muthumanickams, a visually challenged couple, was stolen from hospital just three days after she was born in Madurai. That was nine years ago and there has been no news about the child. Moved by their plight, the Madras High Court directed the state government to put in place a foolproof system. A team in Chennai's Anna University is developing the device.
Muthu Manickam, who works as a Lift Operator, said "We pray that nobody else should suffer like us this way."
Samina Fathima, a young mother who delivered her baby at the Kilpauk Government Hospital, said "Now people would be more confident to come to government hospitals. This was a huge worry earlier."
6.7 lakh babies are born in government hospitals in the state. With technology being put in place to check child theft from hospitals, authorities hope poor patients would feel safer soon.