A security tagging system for infants, the first of its kind in a maternity hospital in the Republic, has been introduced at the Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin. Up to 30 babies are born at the hospital each day and each will have an electronic tag attached to their ankle immediately after delivery.
The Master of the hospital, Dr Sean Daly, said the system added an extra dimension to the existing security measures. In the US there are about five baby snatches each year, and in the past decade or so there have been two in the Republic. The Coombe has never experienced such an incident, said Dr Daly, but patient surveys in the past had shown that the main concern of parents had been the health and safety of the baby.
"Thankfully the Coombe has never experienced any serious security breaches. However, we are always looking at ways to improve and enhance security measures and the baby tagging system is reputed to work very successfully in many hospitals around the world," he said.
The system involves a transmitter tag for the baby and a number of receivers fitted to all exits from the hospital. The receivers, if activated, trigger a system of locks and alarms. It identifies each baby by transmitter ID code and by the baby's hospital number. The hospital security camera system is also linked in. Infants will continue to have wrist bands recording their name, sex, date of birth, and hospital number.
Ms Ita O'Dwyer, matron at the hospital, said no system was 100 per cent effective but this measure would make everyone feel more secure. Last week, she said, while the system was being tested, a nurse activated the system as she tried to take a baby to another area of the hospital without deactivating the tag.
The system, funded by the Department of Health, will be introduced to the other two Dublin maternity hospitals shortly.
Speaking about couples who have been trying to conceive a baby in recent days so that it would be born at the beginning of the new millennium, Dr Daly said he wanted to encourage those women to take folic acid. "The spinal cords of the millennium babies will form in the next three to four weeks, so to make sure that it closes properly it is important to take folic acid."
He said that he was not unduly concerned about the prospect of an increased workload over the New Year period. "We are not worried about the workload, just that the babies are born healthy. We will know soon enough how busy we are going to be and we would encourage all our patients to come for their ante-natal care early," he said.