'Hospital swapped babies, gave us dead girl for a boy'

In a bizarre incident, a family claimed that they were handed over the body of a baby girl, while the woman had given birth to a boy in Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in Pitampura.

Chaos erupted in the hospital on Saturday after family members created an uproar over baby swapping by hospital authorities.

On Friday, Roshan Khatun, a resident of Prem Nagar, was admitted in the Delhi government hospital around 10 am and the same day she delivered a baby.

However, the next day the family was told that the baby has died. The hospital authorities then handed over the body of a baby girl, Khatun’s husband Mohammed Mukhtar claimed.

The family was even showed the baby boy twice on Friday, said Mukhtar. The body has been sent for post-mortem following the uproar.

Hospital authorities, however, refuted claims of the patient party and said there were mala fide intentions involved in defaming the authorities.

“The woman had given birth to a baby girl around 3 pm on Friday. The baby was in critical condition right after birth and we put her on ventilator.

The child, however, collapsed on Saturday evening,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, medical superintendent.

“The family was handed over the body and they left the hospital premises. But they returned at 8 pm and charged us of swapping babies. This is to deliberately harass the administration,” said Dr Gupta.

The hospital authorities said the woman underwent normal delivery and was well aware that she had given birth to a girl.

Also, the official records confirm the birth of a baby girl, the administration claimed.  “Also, the infant’s grandmother was shown the baby twice on Friday and she was in full knowledge that it was a girl,” said Dr Gupta.

The body was sent to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital for post-mortem. The reports are awaited. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident to investigate the negligence of the adminstration into the incident.

DNA test

The hospital administration is also likely to carry out a DNA test after receiving the post-mortem reports.

“We are considering the option of carrying out a DNA test to establish the truth,” said Dr Gupta.

Meanwhile, a minor fire broke out in Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital in Ashok Vihar Phase IV on Saturday evening.

“The fire broke out after there was a short circuit due to rainfall. There was no casualty. However, there was disruption in service in some wings on Sunday because of the minor damage caused,” said a hospital official.