One plus one: The twin that got away

Mother claims she was carrying twins but doctors say she gave birth to one child only.

SUKKUR: The mystery surrounding a newborn baby who allegedly went missing from the Shaikh Zayed Women Hospital, Larkana, remains unresolved. Hospital authorities claim that the woman gave birth to one baby only, while the family claims the mother was carrying twins.

On Thursday, Khadim Hussain Kalhoro, a resident of Chaudero village in Naseerabad taluka, Larkana, brought his wife for delivery to the Shaikh Zayed Women Hospital. The doctors opted for a caesarean procedure as there were complications during the delivery.

Following the birth of the child, the parents started agitating as they claimed the ultrasound had shown the mother was carrying twins. The doctors, however, insisted she gave birth to one child only.

This sparked a controversy among the hospital authorities and the parents. Senior officials of the hospital management had to intervene to calm the matter and two doctors were suspended until further investigations.

Speaking to the media in Larkana, Kalhoro claimed his wife had gone for several ultrasound tests, each of which had shown she was carrying twins. He added that even the doctors at the Shaikh Zayed Women Hospital had confirmed she was carrying twins before the delivery. Later, however, they were told that she had given birth to one child only. Kalhoro accused the hospital authorities of stealing his child and demanded the management to take strict action and retrieve the missing child.

For her part, the hospital in-charge, Dr Shahida Magsi, told The Express Tribune that sometimes ultrasound reports do not necessarily confirm the exact position of the child in the mother’s womb.

In this case, she said the stomach was bulky which could have made it difficult for the doctors to ascertain the child’s position.

Dr Magsi added that the father was claiming he had four ultrasound reports that confirmed she was carrying twins but he was not ready to show the reports to the doctors. “Even when the doctors took the woman to the operation theater, they assumed she will give birth to twins but when they operated on her, she gave birth to one child only,” she said. “The doctors immediately called the attendant and the woman’s sister came in and saw for herself that her sister had given birth to one child.”  Later, the family started accusing the doctors of stealing one of the children.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2015.