Berhampur, April 20: Disciplinary action has been initiated against a staff nurse and three junior doctors of the MKCG Medical College and Hospital for dereliction of duty in an alleged baby swapping case.

The incident had taken place in February and the authorities of the hospital have recently received the DNA test reports pertaining to the parents of the baby girl.

"The State Forensic Laboratory in Bhubaneswar has finally established that Anil Biswasray and Priyadarshini Biswasray of Hinjili are the biological parents of the baby girl," said Ashok Kumar Behera, the superintendent of MKCG Hospital.

"There has been a series of human errors and three doctors and a staff nurse are responsible for the unfortunate incident. A five-member committee including four professors had conducted the probe," said Jyotirmayee Pradhan, the administrative officer of MKCG Hospital.

Sunita Basantia of Sunathara village in Ganjam district gave birth to a baby boy on February 20.

The newborn was admitted to the SNCU (special newborn care unit) as he was underweight. But, the hospital authorities handed over a girl to her on March 6. She was, however, told earlier that she had mothered a male child.

On the other hand, Priyadarshini Biswasray of Hinjili had given birth to a baby girl on February 21. But the hospital staff had handed them a dead baby boy on March 11. They buried the dead child. The Biswasrays claimed that the baby girl in Sunita's possession might be theirs. They felt the hospital employees might have exchanged their babies. After a hue and cry over the baby swapping case, the police exhumed the body and found that it was of a boy.

The superintendent of MKCG Hospital further said that during the investigation, it was revealed that the problem started after the identity tags bearing the names of the parents of these two children got exchanged by mistake on February 25.

"The hospital staff even changed the documents later to justify their mistake," Behera said.

The baby girl, who was underweight and weighed only 800 grams, was kept at the SNCU since her birth. "But now due to appropriate treatment and nourishment, the baby girl weighs around 1,700 grams and is completely fit for discharge. We are planning to discharge the baby girl from the SNCU and hand it over to the Biswasrays today," said Behera.

The Biswasray couple met the MKCG Hospital superintendent, who advised the couple to take the new baby girl home. "It has been a long and arduous wait. When I was handed over the dead baby boy, I did not really bother about his sex since I was very much grief-stricken. ," said Anil Biswasray, the father of the baby girl.

The blood group of both Anil and the baby girl is O-positive.

Priyadarshini said she is the happiest mother in the world today after getting back her child.

"Both my husband and I have suffered mentally, physically and financially during the last couple of months. It was living hell. I want the persons responsible for our mental agony be severely punished for their wicked act," said Priyadarshini.