Nurse gets show-cause notice

Newborn baby boy handed over to parents, girl still in hospital

RAWALPINDI:

The Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) administration has served a notice on a staff nurse on the findings of an inquiry that probed the baby-swapping incident.

Sources claimed that the inquiry committee saved senior doctors and held a nurse responsible for the gaffe. The sources said that a letter will be written to the Punjab health department seeking departmental action against the staff nurse.

A boy and a girl, who had mistakenly been swapped by the hospital staff after they were born in the gynaecology ward, remained a bone of contention between the two families for one week as the BBH administration gratuitously waited for police to show up for conducting the DNA test of the two babies, despite the fact that the latter had made it clear that it was neither a police case nor an FIR had been registered.

The hospital administration handed over the boy to his parents without carrying out the DNA test on both newborns, which had been demanded by both parents.

Interestingly, on the basis of the findings of the inquiry committee, the hospital management handed over the baby boy to the parents while the father of the baby girl vanished from the scene without taking custody of his daughter. The hospital administration has decided to seek help from police to locate the parents to hand over the baby girl.

BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Sohail told The Express Tribune said that on August 27, two women gave birth to children in the gynaecology ward with a gap of 15 to 20 minutes. He said that both the babies were kept in the recovery room after birth where the staff mistakenly handed over the baby boy to the parents of the baby girl and vice versa. He said that the issue popped up after the parents of the baby boy refused to accept the baby girl. The head of the family, Muhammad Hanif, insisted that the boy was born to his family and threatened to report the matter to the police. After that, a five-member committee headed by senior doctors had been formed to probe the matter.

Dr Sohail said that the inquiry committee conducted detailed interviews of LHV Amna, Senior Head Nurse Joyce Gill and senior surgeon doctors and the whole record was examined carefully.

He said the inquiry found LHV Amina of the gynaecology ward culpable of alleged negligence which led to the ‘misunderstanding, between the two families.

Based on statements and interviews of surgeon doctors and gynaecologists, the inquiry report said that Nadia Ramazan gave birth to a baby girl and Jamila Mudassar gave birth to a baby son, he said adding that the woman who was claiming to have given birth to a boy already had three daughters and she wished to have a son this time around.

“In the light of the findings of the inquiry, the hospital administration has handed over the baby boy to Jamila Mudassar, who was his real mother,” Dr Sohail said adding that at the time of handing over the baby boy to the parents, Muhammad Ramzan, the father of the baby girl, was also called to the hospital to take custody of his daughter. He said that Muhammad Ramzan left the hospital to get a photocopy of the ID card but he never return. He said that the hospital administration has decided to take help from the police to locate the family and hand over the baby girl to her parents.

He said that the DNA of the newborns was not carried out because “our investigation committee has such strong evidence that it cannot be refuted.”

He said that “if the father of the baby girl wanted to carry out the DNA test, he can get it for himself but the hospital administration will not conduct the DNA test.”

Dr Sohail said that to avoid such incidents in the future new SOPs have been issued for all departments, which will be implemented at all costs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2022.