Nagpur: In a significant move to strengthen newborn safety at government-run hospitals, the Maharashtra Government has introduced Code Pink — a globally recognized emergency protocol triggered during incidents of missing infants. The directive comes in the wake of alarming cases of newborn abductions from Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals (GMCHs) across the state.
A Government Resolution (GR) issued on July 9 by the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) outlines a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the effective implementation of the protocol. The SOP mandates immediate action and detailed security measures at every stage of a newborn’s hospital journey — from antenatal checks to discharge.
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Under the new directive, the Commissioner of Medical Education and AYUSH has been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring full implementation of the SOP. Medical Superintendents of all government medical colleges and affiliated hospitals have been instructed to review security measures every month and submit a quarterly action taken report to the Directorate.
“Once a child is born, its foot impression is recorded before being handed over to a pre-identified relative of the mother,” said Dr. Avinash Gawande, Medical Superintendent of GMCH Nagpur, explaining how the protocol is already being put into practice.
In the event of a child going missing, Code Pink will be activated, prompting hospital staff to initiate a coordinated emergency response. This includes alerting police or hospital security with a description of the child, initiating CCTV reviews, and carrying out an intensive search operation within and around the hospital premises.
The SOP also emphasizes training of medical, nursing, and security staff on implementing Code Pink, with expenses to be met from the hospital’s allocated budget. All areas of the hospital — including antenatal examination rooms, delivery wards, operating theatres, postnatal wards, neonatal ICUs, and discharge units — are to be covered under the system.
However, certain institutions like Daga Memorial Women and Children Hospital and the District General Hospital in Bhandara, which fall under the Public Health Department and not DMER, may require a separate order from their parent department for implementation. Daga Hospital handles nearly 25 deliveries daily, making it the largest government maternity hospital in Nagpur.
A senior official from Bhandara Hospital, which witnessed a tragic fire in 2021 killing 10 infants in its Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU), stated that their security systems already include guards and CCTV monitoring, with around 300 women admitted at any given time.
Officials from AIIMS also confirmed the presence of an internal security protocol, including the Code Pink mechanism, for newborn safety.
The move by the state government is being seen as a crucial step toward restoring public confidence in the safety and security standards of government healthcare institutions — particularly for vulnerable infants.
