Woman withdraws claim on “stolen” baby at Laquintinie after meeting Health Minister

After meeting the Minister Public Health Minister, Dr Manaouda Malachi on Thursday, April 6th, 2023, Bell Esther Aurelie, the woman who accused the Laquintinie of stealing her newborn baby, said she has withdrawn the claims because “no baby was stolen.”

“I am leaving this place with the answers I needed. Before I had so many questions about this situation, but they have been addressed. It was a foetus and I have mourned and accepted the situation. I thank God, the staff and the administration,” Esther Aurelie said.

Her lawyer, Barrister Nkamwah Limen, told MMI they have also withdrawn a lawsuit and 24-hour notice that demanded the hospital produces the baby either alive or dead.

Barrister Nkamwah and his colleagues issued the notice just before the Minister’s visit to Laquintinie hospital on Thursday.

The lawyer told MMI that Aurelie and her family backtracked on the altimatum after a thorough investigation carried out at the hospital revealed that the baby was born prematurely at five months and did not “come out in one piece.”

“The medical booklet was meticulously analyzed by expert doctors, taking into consideration the situation in which she came to the hospital (emergency from Nylon hospital, which couldn’t handle the situation that day). And it was concluded that there was a mistake at the level of the number of months the pregnancy had evolved (6),” Barrister Nkamwah told MMI.

“The testimony from the student nurse who still insisted she saw just blood in the bucket she went to throw away let them come to a conclusion that the child actually didn’t come out from the lady in one piece,” the Barrister added.

Genesis

On Monday, April 3rd, 2023, Aurelie told MMI she birthed a baby boy on Friday, March 31, at Laquintinie hospital but had “never seen the baby.”

The midwives on duty insisted the baby had been born prematurely and they disposed it in a septic tank.

This fueled suspicions that the baby had been stolen, prompting outcry and a lawsuit.

Laquintinie Hospital Director, Prof. Essomba Noel later stated in a release on Tuesday that no baby was stolen at the hospital, and blamed poor communication among midwives for the news that went out.

He proceeded to suspend two midwives who attended to Bell Esther Aurelie and called for the arrest of an intern who was blamed for hastily discarding the fetus.

Minister Manaouda Malachi was at the hospital Thursday, April 6, where he held a meeting with the hospital authorities and Bell Esther Aurelie.

Mimi Mefo Info.