Inquiry committee refutes parents’ claims of baby swapping

KARACHI:

The inquiry committee formed to probe allegations of a newborn boy's swapping with a deceased baby girl by Civil hospital management has presented its final report to the medical superintendent, stating that the child in question was a girl.  The victim's mother, Hina, had accused the hospital management of handing over a deceased baby girl on January 21, after her child was treated at the hospital's paediatric ward-II for 17 days. According to her, she gave birth to a baby boy on January 5.

"The register of the gynaecology ward listed the baby as an alive male and it was duly signed by Dr Faiza, the surgeon who delivered the baby," she had claimed. The birth certificate issued by the resident medical officer on January 7 also declared the newborn a male. The mother asked how a single mistake could have been repeated on every document of the hospital administration.

The computerised admission slip for the hospital bed in the paediatric ward again mentions a male in the gender category. According to the consent letter of Hina's surgery for January 5, the name of the doctor has been changed from Dr Faiza to Dr Tahira. The letter was signed by Dr Tahira on January 6, which according to the victim, was a cause for concern regarding the swapping of her child. The parents also raised their concerns that the family was asked to procure B-negative blood from the blood bank. "However, the doctor’s note states that our baby's  blood group is O-positive," said the father, Ishtiaq Ali.

On January 26, a committee, headed by Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, was formed to probe the family's allegations. Ali lost his job as a guard at a private security company due to his frequent visits to the hospital to record statements before the members of the committee.

"The committee on February 3 reached its final conclusion by thoroughly reviewing statements. The records suggest that the baby was a girl," said Dr Shaikh, adding that a mistake was made by the hospital staff that entered the record, which resulted in a chain of mistakes.  However, the committee accepted that the situation was caused due to "great negligence" and carelessness on part of doctors and nurses involved in the matter and they should be held accountable through strict disciplinary action.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2016.