SHIVAMOGGA: An incident of a stray dog running around with a newborn baby in its mouth has been reported from McGann Teaching District Hospital here. The dog was found carrying the newborn in its mouth in the wee hours of March 31, but the incident came to light on Sunday.
A woman security guard has filed a police complaint in this regard. In her complaint, the guard stated that immediately after she came to work at 6 am, some people informed her that they saw a stray dog running around carrying the newborn baby in its mouth. They also informed her that the dog came from the building housing maternity wards. When she went to the building, she saw the dog still holding the baby in its mouth. The baby was found dead by then.
The guard suspected that the baby might have died sometime after its birth. The baby might have been born out of an illicit relationship and the woman left home leaving the dead infant in the hospital. The Doddapete police have registered a case. It is yet to be ascertained whether the dog killed the baby.
District health officer Rajesh Suragihalli said that the postmortem has been conducted. The body weighed 900 grams. He suspected it to be a premature delivery and it did not happen at McGann Hospital. Three teams have been formed to investigate the matter.
“I have instructed the hospital officials to submit a report in three days after collecting information on all deliveries at government and private hospitals in the city in the last 15 days,” he said. SIMS medical superintendent Shridhar suspected that someone from the outside might have kept the baby on the hospital premises. Investigations are on, he said. The police said that samples will soon be sent to the FSA laboratory in Davanagere for a DNA test.