A journey through fire for missing Gavish’s parents

Three and a half-year-old Nethmi was running around her house awaiting her mother’s arrival with the new born malliya. But this little girl found it hard to understand why her mother returned home empty handed. Shamalee Wijekoon (29) of Wijerama, Nugegoda cuddled her daughter as she entered their home not knowing how to explain what happened to her keenly expected baby brother.

Lalitha Kumarihami told The Sunday Times her daughter Shamalee was still in shock and was refusing to take her food since her new born baby went missing from the Colombo South Teaching (Kalubowila) Hospital.“She weeps continuously while lamenting that she had the opportunity of feeding the baby only twice and it is unbearable to even think what is happening to her little baby at the hands of a stranger,” the mother said.

Shamalee was admitted to Ward 21 of the Kalubowila Hospital on December 17 to deliver her second baby. She said the baby boy was born at 1.58 am and her husband Wasantha Kumara Fernando had visited his wife and infant son in the morning. He took some pictures on his mobile phone to show their eldest daughter, who was proud to be the ‘big sis’ and anxious to see her baby brother.

A woman whom the hospital authorities’ suspect as the one who could have done the dastardly deed of carrying away the infant was seen walking around the ward since morning first in the guise of a visitor and later dressed as a mother after delivery. She was seen talking to the mothers in the ward apparently planning to grab a baby boy. At the time only two women had given birth to baby boys and Shamalee was one of them.

The suspect had visited these two mothers frequently volunteering to take care of their babies and asking the new mothers to rest and relax. The mother, who had given birth to the other baby boy had kindly refused and said she did not need help nor felt tired and could look after her baby.

The suspect had asked Shamalee whether she could remember her meeting at the prenatal clinic. But Shamalee could not remember meeting this woman. She had said her baby was born prematurely about two weeks ago under caesarean section and was in the premature baby room.

She said she would be discharged that day and was waiting for the birth certificate to be certified. Ward 21 was made up of about 20 beds and the suspect was seen going to every bed inquiring about their babies’ health. None of the mothers, nurses or the attendants suspected this woman of planning anything so daring as fleeing with a new born baby because she had been hanging around the ward since morning.

Shamalee had gone to the toilet at around 2 pm entrusting her baby to the nearest person, which is common in maternity wards. Unfortunately for her it was the suspect who took the child from Shamalee volunteering to look after the infant. But when Shamalee returned to her bed she noticed that her baby was nowhere to be seen neither was the woman who volunteered to look after the infant.

Shamalee immediately informed the ward staff but unfortunately it took quite a long time for the officials to arrive and organise a search for the suspect and the infant. Even the Police had taken more than half an hour to come to the ward. Immediate action at times such as this might have provided at least some clues in the search for the missing baby. The Sunday Times also learns that a female janitor who was cleaning the ward had been asked by the suspect to fetch a blue basket from a young girl seated in the lobby.

“We were expecting a son and when a scan showed it was going to be so we were overjoyed. We spent a lot of time choosing a name for the baby before deciding he would be named as Gavish Gihan Fernando” says the father of the baby Wasantha Fernando (34). Wasantha who works as a building contractor, fell in love with Shamalee while they were working at a Bank in Colombo and got married in 2001. After the birth of their daughter, both of them hoped their next baby will be a boy.

He said he felt like a person who had gone crazy when his sobbing wife called to say there was a problem.“When I rushed to the hospital I was told about the disappearance of the child. I felt so lost not knowing what to do” he said.“I am sure the child must have been taken to be given to a childless couple, but there are so many places children can be had for adoption. However if the baby was stolen to be sold I am willing to reimburse the amount paid for the child. My only plea is for our son to be returned” this desperate father said.

He said when they were leaving hospital they requested the hospital authorities to give them a letter saying the baby had gone missing but they refused and after much persuasion and with great reluctance a letter was finally issued. The baby’s grandparents accused the ward staff and the security officers for failing to safeguard the patients inside the hospital premises.

They said they were on their way from Kurunegala and when they got to know about this incident we were held up in traffic.

“We reached the hospital about 40 minutes after the incident. We saw only the ward nurses but shocked and surprised to hear that no security or police officers or even a doctor had been to the ward” one of the grandparents said. Kalubowila Hospital’s acting deputy director Dr. Lionel Muhandiram said the hospital was conducting its own inquiries apart from the Police and Health Ministry investigations.

He said the woman suspect had dressed up as a mother who had delivered a baby, so there was no way of suspecting or checking such a person.“Usually patients are discharged at 2.15 pm and at such a time a large number of mothers await to be discharged. It is impossible to check them,” Dr. Muhandiram said.

He said ward staff should also be blamed for not noticing an unidentified woman hanging around the ward for nearly half a day.
The female security officer who had been at the entrance to the ward at told The Sunday Times that she saw many people carrying baskets, pillows and new born infants but she had no reason to suspect anybody until she was told that a baby was missing.

“It’s physically impossible to check all these people,” she said. Police spokesman Jayanatha Wickramaratna said two police teams have been deployed in addition to a special team from the Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Children and Women to investigate the disappearance. He asked the public to provide information about the woman who had stolen the child or about the van in which the child had been taken away.

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had ordered an immediate investigation on the abduction. From time to time such incidents of child kidnapping has been reported. The reasons range from adoption, obtaining body parts or to be sold overseas. Relevant authorities should be more alert and take all possible steps to find baby Gavish. The baby’s father appeals to the public to provide any information to his mobile: 0777-889003.

Kalubowila Hospital Acting Deputy Director Dr. Lionel Muhandiram said with immediate effect only one pass will be issued for patient-visits and the pass will be issued after handing over the National Identity Card. “At admission we inform the mother’s to be more careful and give instructions. We also have informed them to tell our staff prior before going to the washroom or having to leave the baby unattended on the bed. We have briefed the whole staff to be alert and how they must act in an emergency,” he said.Dr. Muhandiram said investigations were being carried out to find out whether this mishap was caused due to some mis-management or carelessness by the staff and if so necessary action would be taken against them.

An officer at the De Soysa Maternity Hospital said there had been not reports of child kidnapping at the hospital but security measures were being taken to prevent such situations.“We issue two visitor-passes under the patient’s name and if there is some suspicion we also check the national identity cards and question them,” he said.

Lady Ridgeway Hospital Director said security measures could be taken but there is a lack of cooperation from the Public.“This kind of situation could arise in maternity hospitals or children’s hospitals. Issuing passes is a very good idea or else any kind of person can enter hospital. Also the staff should make sure that they remain alert,” she said.

A body of a day-old baby girl was found last Thursday (20) morning at the Dehiwala beach, police said. The body is in police custody pending investigations. On the same day at around 5.30 pm some people swimming in the sea recovered the body of a baby floating in the sea off Mt. Lavinia. Mt. Lavinia Inspector Mahesh Perera said investigations were being carried out to check whether these bodies were those of twins.