‘Swapped’ newborn reunited with parents

BBH staff accused of negligence at hospital nursery

RAWALPINDI:

Police on Sunday reunited a newborn baby girl, who had been swapped with the baby of another couple due to the alleged negligence of the staff of Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), Rawalpindi.

The newborn’s family told the police that their daughter was kidnapped from the hospital’s nursery.

The serious negligence and carelessness of the staff of the gynaecological ward and the adjoining nursery of BBH came to light when the maternal grandfather of the one-day-old girl, Zafar Ali, a resident of Kallar Syedan, ​​informed the Waris Khan police station that his granddaughter was in the hospital’s nursery for treatment of breathing problems and the family members used to visit her often.

He told police that when they visited later, the child was not there. At this, the police registered a case of abduction.

According to Waris Khan police station SHO Inspector Mirza Javed, 20 children were in the hospital that day. “After reviewing CCTV camera footage, it was revealed that the girl was mistakenly taken by a family belonging to Talagang. Their daughter was also admitted to the hospital,” he said.

The staff were sent to Talagang with an ambulance to transfer the baby to Rawalpindi and hand it over to her real parents,” he added.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2023.