Baby swap case: DNA test proves mother right

The case of alleged swapping of a newborn child at the Government Maternity Hospital in the city took a curious turn with the DNA test proving the woman had given birth to a boy and not a girl as claimed by the hospital authorities.

Latha and her husband Janga Reddy had lodged a complaint at Charminar police station on April 22 accusing the hospital staff of swapping her baby boy with a girl. A resident of Chengollapalli on the city outskirts, the woman was admitted to the hospital on April 11. She gave birth to a baby boy on April 16. The infant, however, fell sick and was shifted to Intensive Care Unit.

Later, on April 22 the hospital staff, while discharging her, handed over a baby girl to her stating that the hospital records had wrongly mentioned her newborn as a boy. She, however, refused to take the baby girl and preferred a complaint to the police. She also refused to breastfeed the baby girl who was then admitted to Niloufer Hospital in the city for care.

The police interrogated the hospital staff and sent the DNA samples of the mother, father and the baby girl to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics for tests. The DNA tests on the infant and the parents established that the baby girl was not their child. Ultrasound tests done on the woman also proved that she had given birth to a boy.

Investigations by the police indicated that a total of 33 girls and six boys were born in the hospital on April 16. Two of them died. Charminar circle inspector K Ramachandran said the police have seized the hospital records and taken up further investigation to trace out the hospital staff involved in the alleged swapping.