Parents protest at CHK after baby boy ‘swapped’ with girl’s body

Karachi

A couple and their family staged a protest at the Civil Hospital on Monday demanding the return of their baby boy, who they claimed was swapped with a dead baby girl by the medical facility’s staff.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, a resident of Orangi Town, told reporters at CHK that on January 5, his wife, Hina, gave birth to a baby and the hospital administration issued him a birth certificate wherein it was mentioned that the gender of the newborn was male.

However, he added, on the same day the hospital staff told the family that the newborn was ill and needed to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.

He said the maternal aunt and the grandmother had seen the baby boy and before he was taken away by the hospital staff to the nursery.

Ahmed said on January 21, the hospital staff called him and told that the infant had died and handed him the body of a baby girl, claiming that it was his child who had died during treatment.

 “I told them that I had a son, not a daughter, but they forced me to take away the body of the dead baby girl. I told this to my family and we decided that we would approach the hospital administration and protest unless our baby boy is returned, he added.

Ahmed also showed the birth certificate that was issued to him. The hospital record mentioning the birth of a baby boy was also shown to reporters on the occasion.

Civil Hospital Karachi assistant medical superintendent Dr Abdul Qadir said they had formed a committee to probe into the matter. However, he added that that the couple had a baby girl, who had died during treatment because of birth-related complications.

When his attention was drawn towards the medical certificate and the hospital ledger mentioning that a baby boy was born to the couple, he said it was a “mistake” by the hospital staff which was overworked and remained under tremendous pressure. Dr Qadir said police too were investigating the case. He added that if the police felt the need for conducting a DNA test to ascertain who the parents of the dead baby were, that too could be done.

An officer at the Eidgah police station said he had received Ahmed’s application for the registration of an FIR against the Civil Hospital staff.

Sub-inspector Muhammad Arab added that the the FIR could not be lodged because of some technical issues and the complainant had been asked to visit the police station on Tuesday.