Dog snatches newborn at Vizag KGH

In a spine-chilling incident, a stray dog entered the labour room of the King George Hospital on Saturday morning and ran away with a newborn baby between its jaws. People chased the dog and saved the baby, but it was found to be dead.

The hospital authorities admitted that the incident was horrific but claimed that the baby was stillborn and was not killed by the dog.

But the parents, Mr Kamal Kumar and Mrs K. Anuradha of Anakapalle, were inconsolable and threatened to sue the hospital for criminal negligence. “My baby was not dead,” said the tearful mother. “It was the dog that killed my child.”

“I cannot believe that such a thing has happened to my child,” said Mr Kamal Kumar, an autorickshaw driver, who was in a state of shock. Mrs Anuradha, who was in her seventh month of pregnancy, was admitted in the hospital on February 6 and gave birth to the child at around 1.30 am on Saturday.

A relative of the couple said that the mother was taken to the general ward at around 3 am but the baby was kept in the labour room.

“When we insisted on seeing the baby, the ayah demanded Rs 500,” said the relative. “We refused and she slammed the door on us. We had to wait outside.”

According to the relative, at around 6 am, people saw a stray dog entering the labour room and running out with the baby. They chased the dog around the hospital campus. Finally, it dropped the baby and scampered away. But the infant was found to be dead. However, hospital officials insisted that the incident occurred when the mother was asleep with the child next to her.

“It was a premature delivery and the child was stillborn,” said the hospital superintendent, Dr G. Santha Rao. “The pathology report confirms this. But I agree that such an incident should never have happened in the hospital. It is mainly because of dereliction of duty.”

The superintendent said that a security guard and sweeper were dismissed while the ayah was suspended and disciplinary action was against the staff nurse. A committee had also been asked to probe the circumstances in which the incident occurred, he added.

Meanwhile, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation swung into action and its dogcatchers trapped as many as 20 dogs from the hospital premises late in the evening.

“I have seen dogs making the rounds of every ward of the hospital,” said Mr Rama Rao, a teacher who witnessed the accident. “This horrible incident shows the irresponsibility of the staff.”