False belief: The baby boy that was always a girl

A private laboratory had informed the couple the wife was expecting a boy.

RAWALPINDI: The baby born to Hamid Mehmood was always a girl. But an erroneous laboratory report led to the 35-year-old believing that the staff had replaced his son with someone else’s daughter.

Mehmood and his relatives protested against the ‘switch’ outside the gynaecology ward on Tuesday evening, after they were told that Razia Hamid, Mehmood’s wife, had given birth to a baby girl.

Hospital staff including BBH Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Asif Qadir Mir assured Mehmood that the baby girl was his, promising him a DNA test.

The next day, the family renewed the allegation against the gynaecological staff, saying said they had been informed by a radiologist that Razia was carrying a boy.

Even after the head of the gynaecological ward, Prof Dr Isma Tanveer, showed them documents proving that the girl was born earlier than the boy, the protesting family was not satisfied.

The doctor believed the father wanted a boy as he already had three girls and said Razia had told the staff in the labour room that her husband would be angry if another girl was born.

Dr Mir said the issue was resolved after Mehmood, a businessman by profession, was shown that the blood samples of the girl and not that of the boy matched with his.

The MS was also of the view that preference for a boy might have contributed to the confusion which was created because the couple was informed by a private laboratory that Razia was pregnant with a boy.

Mehmood, a resident of Kotli Sattian, said the confusion was created after a nurse told him his wife had given birth to a boy. “But the issue was resolved after I was assured that my wife gave birth to a girl and I’m happy to have another daughter.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2012.