Curious case of two mothers and their swapped newborns: DNA test puts matter to rest

Two pregnant women were handed over the wrong babies by the hospital in Jaipur. Here is how the matter was finally put to rest after eight days of them delivering the newborns.

Jaipur:Eight days after they gave birth at a local hospital in Jaipur, the two women finally breathed a sigh of relief as DNA reports confirmed the identities of their babies resolving the blooper the hospital authorities had made while tagging the newborns.

On September 1, 25-year-old Reshma, a resident of Ghat Gate in Jaipur was informed by the women's hospital located at Sanganeri Gate that she had delivered a baby boy whereas Nisha, a 26-year-old resident of the same area was told that a baby girl was born to her. After three days on September 3, the two mothers were called by the hospital authorities to come along with their babies for an 'urgent medical examination'.

When the two women rushed to the hospital along with their families, they were shocked to know that the hospital had mistakenly swapped the babies at the time of birth. The agitated parents created a ruckus following which the hospital administration had to call the police to control the situation. The two mothers along with the two newborns were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. Following it, the hospital authorities took the route of DNA testing to confirm the identities of the newborns.

On Saturday, the DNA reports revealed that Nisha was the mother of the baby boy while Reshma had delivered the baby girl. The two mothers told the media that even though they were feeding someone else's baby for three days (1-3 September), they treated the babies as their own.

Speaking on the matter, Hospital superintendent Asha Verma told ETV Bharat, "This was a human mistake. The hospital administration itself has caught its mistake. There are 50 to 70 deliveries every day in the hospital. However, such an episode has come to notice for the first time." The members of the committee have given some suggestions to ensure that such a mistake does not happen again, and they will be implemented, she said.