Gandhinagar, July 6 (IANS). A concrete step has been taken to stop the incidents of theft of newborn babies in Surat, Gujarat. In fact, Surat-based New Civil Hospital has started Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) based security system to prevent incidents of theft of newborn babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). With the help of this system, if any unauthorized activity occurs, an alarm starts ringing.
Regarding this, doctors say that strict rules and identity verification will improve the safety of children and they can be handled carefully during medical transfer. Talking to news agency IANS regarding this system on Monday, Dr. Laxman, Senior Medical Officer of the New Civil Hospital, said that an RFID machine has been installed outside the NICU. Its objective is to stop the theft of newborn babies.
He said that a tag has been placed on the hands of the children admitted in NICU so that if anyone goes out with the children, the RFID machine installed at the exit door will sound a buzzer and will immediately come into security alert mode. Doctor Laxman told that incidents of theft of babies have happened in the hospital before. Therefore now RFID machine has been installed.
Dr. Jigisha Patadia, a teacher and head of the department in the Pediatrics Department of the New Civil Hospital, said that the newborn babies are inside the ICU. If in any way they are taken out of the ICU by a relative or any other person, then we will put this tag on the children with the RFID machine which is attached to the living person, then as soon as those children are taken out without our knowledge, a security alarm will immediately sound, due to which the staff on duty and the security staff will come in alert mode.
He told that many times we have to take the child out for MRI or CT scan. In such a situation, before taking the child out of the ICU, we have to share the complete information of the child with the security staff so that as soon as the security staff rings the buzzer, a doctor will also accompany the child who is taken out for examination. He will confirm about this child with the security staff and then the child will be taken for MRI or CT scan.
He said that under any circumstances, keeping in mind the security of the children who are admitted in the ICU, no child can go out of the sight of the security staff or the hospital staff. Taking a pledge to protect the children, this RFID machine was installed in the hospital on Monday.
Answering the question of how many children can stay in the hospital with security arrangements, Dr. Jigisha said that the new civil hospital receives patients not only from Surat but also from the entire South Gujarat and areas of Maharashtra adjacent to Gujarat. Under this, 42 beds are allowed in the hospital, but there is a provision of 60 beds in the hospital for children and patients referred from outside. For this, there is a separate team of NICU, which provides treatment and care to the children 24*7.
–IANS
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