Tension ran high at Narayani Sub-regional Hospital on Friday after a newborn baby went missing three hours after birth.

Asha Paswan of Chhapkaiya, Birgunj Sub-metropolis-1, had given birth to the baby boy at the hospital at 10:40am.

Asha’s mother-in-law Ramawati and her kin said “someone stole the baby” and accused the hospital administration of carelessness. According to Asha’s relatives, a nurse had given anti-D injection to the child at around 1pm. But moments later, Ramawati started running around crying “someone has taken my baby away” and informed hospital security staff that her newborn grandson had gone missing.

“A woman who was frequenting the ward must have taken the child,” said Ramawati, accusing the hospital staff of negligence.

Dr Chittaranjan Sah, medical superintendent of the hospital, said the child was handed over to the family after Asha had a normal delivery. “This is the first  time such an incident has occurred in this hospital,” said Dr Sah, adding: “The hospital administration is doing all it can to find the baby. We have sought help from police.”

A group of people gathered at the hospital as soon as the news spread that a child had been “stolen” from hospital ward. Protesters burnt tyres in front of the hospital and shouted slogans against doctors, nurses and the hospital administration.

The local administration has beefed up security at the hospital. The hospital is equipped with CCTV cameras, but they are out of order.