Couple says hospital swapped their baby boy for a girl, DNA test ordered

The couple says a baby boy was born to them on July 21 but they were handed a baby girl by the nurses who had taken their child away to the intensive-care unit shortly after it was born.

The joy of parenthood turned to nightmare for a couple from Sidhi after a hospital allegedly misplaced their baby.

HT Image

The couple, which says a baby boy was born to them on July 21, was handed a baby girl by the nurses who had taken their child away to the intensive-care unit (ICU) shortly after it was born.

"It is not a matter of son or daughter. My baby was switched because of carelessness of the nurses. First they told us that it was a son and they admitted the baby to ICU because it was ill and after seven days, they handed us a daughter. This is sheer negligence but no one is accepting this fact," said Ram Lakhan Soni, the father, while talking to Hindustan Times.

Soni and his wife Savita are camping the district hospital at Sidhi, demanding their baby be returned to them. The police have now ordered a DNA test of the baby girl the hospital authorities insist as being born to the couple.

Soni said documents provided by the district hospital also corroborate their claim. "It mentions that it is a male child. My sister, who saw the baby after he was born, too confirmed that it was a male child," he said.

"I have urged the hospital staff to retrieve the CCTV footages and check that it was boy but they are apathetic," Soni added.

"A committee has been set to up to probe into the matter and police are also investigating the case," the chief medical and health officer of Sidhi, KK Dubey, said.