2 families, 2 newborns and a ‘mix-up’ at Udaipur hospital that leaves them with 15-day wait for DNA results

Sunil said, “My wife was admitted at the hospital the night before and when a baby was delivered (on October 21), they said that a baby boy has been born. However, about an hour later, they said that it’s a girl, not a boy. They acted rather irresponsibly; the staff was only interested in collecting reward money (on the childbirth). The doctors also didn’t know which woman delivered which child.”

Blaming the nursing staff, Ashok Rawat, Anita’s brother, said that “her delivery time was 12:03 am but was shown as 12:46 am which is incorrect and is someone else’s. They are unable to give us a justification for the mix up and have also made ‘corrections’ in their registers. For 45 minutes they didn’t have any clue.”

Sunil then approached the local police at Hathipol police station and lodged a complaint. Meanwhile, the hospital also initiated a verification process to confirm and link the infants with their respective families.

Hathipol SHO Yogendra Vyas said, “Two women were admitted for delivery and a boy and a girl were delivered. However, when they were handed over to their families, there was some confusion and the newborns were apparently mixed up. The hospital later clarified which child belonged to whom but the families protested. I also went to the spot and verified the necessary records.”

He said the hospital’s records, the blood group details and other test reports helped clear the confusion as to which baby belonged to which family, with the girl child apparently belonging to the Rawats and the boy to the Sonis.

“However, the families said that they don’t want any vehem (confusion) about their child and demanded a DNA test. So, the DNA profiling has been initiated to clear the confusion of both the families,” he said, adding that while the results are expected in about 15 days from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Jaipur, they have asked FSL to submit its findings at the earliest.

He said that since both the deliveries were back-to-back, it led to some confusion among the staff. Both the children were kept in the hospital, with the Rawats accepting the girl child – for now – while the baby boy is with the other family.

While the police have intervened, no FIR was lodged, Vyas said. Maharana Bhupal hospital superintendent Dr R L Suman did not respond to calls.

Sunil said, “If the gudiya (baby girl) is ours, we will wholeheartedly accept her and if, on the basis of the DNA test, they say the boy is ours, we will accept him as well.”