Ahmedabad: There was a brief scare at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre (UNMICRC) in Civil Hospital campus on Friday morning after a four-month-old infant under treatment was found to be missing from his bed during routine rounds. The baby had been admitted on Thursday for a heart condition.Hospital officials immediately sounded a ‘Pink Alert’, triggering emergency protocols. All entry and exit gates were sealed, and a thorough search was conducted across wards and hospital premises. When neither the child nor his parents could be located, officials began tracing the family through available records and eventually found a relative.“The child and his parents had come from Siddhpur in North Gujarat. He was admitted to the paediatric cardiology ward on Thursday night due to a heart condition affecting the pumping of blood, and was under medical care,” a hospital official said, adding, “When the infant was not found during the morning round, an alert was raised without delay.”On questioning the relative, officials learnt that the child’s parents had left the hospital with him around 8:45am without informing the medical staff.“Senior doctors spoke to the father, who said that the couple had left their two young daughters at home and had become increasingly anxious about them. They decided to return home temporarily to make arrangements for the girls before coming back,” the official said.According to hospital authorities, the parents told doctors they were unaware of the hospital’s procedures and assumed they could take the child with them, as they were uncertain who would care for him in their absence.Given the infant’s medical condition, doctors strongly advised the parents to return and have the child readmitted for continued treatment. The parents assured hospital authorities that they would bring the child back at the earliest.
