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| The two babies (above and below) that battled swap cry at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati |
Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: Allegations of baby swapping rocked Capital Hospital here today.
Family members of Pratima Nayak, who gave birth to a child in the gynaecology department of the hospital last night, claimed that her male baby had been swapped with a female child. The relatives of the woman even demanded a DNA test to settle the issue.
Pratima’s mother-in-law Rangabati Nayak said her daughter-in-law had given birth to a male child last night. “But when I returned to her bed after buying some sanitary items, I found a baby girl sleeping beside her. Pratima was unconscious at the time,” alleged Rangabati adding that the woman who was on the adjacent bed had exchanged the baby in connivance with hospital staff.
Jhili Nayak, the woman on the bed next to Pratima, also claimed that she had given birth to a male child and the baby was hers. “The allegations made by Pratima’s family members are baseless. My daughter-in-law gave birth to a male child and 10 minutes later Pratima gave birth to a female child. It is possible that they saw Jhili’s child and thought it was Pratima’s,” said Sulochana Nayak, Jhili’s mother-in-law.
Pratima’s family members tried to prevent Jhili and her family from leaving the hospital in the morning after she was discharged. This triggered tension. Later, hospital authorities tried to restore peace. Sources said that Pratima, who had been widowed three months ago, was admitted to hospital in the evening around the same time when Jhili was admitted.
Hospital sources said that both of them gave birth within 10 minutes of each other around 11pm last night. Later, Pratima’s mother-in-law brought allegations of child swapping. The chief medical officer (CMO) of Capital Hospital, Nirmala Dei, said she visited the gynaecology department after receiving the complaint. She added that the baby girl bore resemblance to the complainant.
“The hospital documents and the staff attending to the patients said that Pratima had given birth to a girl child. We tried hard to convince them but they were not ready to listen to us. So, we have asked the police to investigate,” said Dei.
Pratima’s family members too lodged a complaint with the police demanding a probe into the matter.
“If no action is taken, we will seek a DNA test,” said a relative of Pratima.
Police said they had received a complaint in this regard. “We are investigating the matter,” said a police officer.