Parents and relatives of a one-day-old baby girl, who died following respiratory problems after birth, staged a protest alleging that the maternity centre had ‘swapped’ the baby, pointing at her birth certificate which mentioned ‘male’ in the gender column. But, the health officials stated that it was a human error.
K Nirmala Devi (21), wife of K Kalimuthu (32) of Keezhapudhur Road here, gave birth to a baby on October 21 around 7.45 pm at the maternity centre at Bheema Nagar. The baby had a respiratory problem and was referred to the neo-natal care at Annal Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital. It was shifted by one of the staff at the maternity centre accompanied by the mother of Nirmala Devi.
However, the baby died at the GH the next morning. Kalimuthu conducted the funeral on the same day and the baby was buried at a graveyard at Pillayar Nagar near Keezhapudhur Road.
On Wednesday, Kalimuthu received the birth certificate of the baby and was shocked to see that it carried the baby’s gender as ‘male’. Soon, Kalimuthu accompanied by a few relatives, stormed the maternity centre. The relatives demanded the maternity centre to hand over the ‘male baby’. On information, Palakkarai police rushed to the spot and pacified them. Later, they lodged a complaint with the police. Based on the complaint, Palakkarai police registered a case under IPC section 174 CrPC (suspicious death). Police conducted inquiry with Kalimuthu. They also inquired the maternity centre officer Rajeswari, nurses Ramani and Chithra Devi.
Police sources said, they are planning to approach the revenue officials. “If needed, the body will be exhumed for post mortem and further DNA test conducted”, police said. When contacted, the City Health Officer Dr Rajeswari said, the baby indeed had a respiratory problem due to ‘foetal distress’. “As the child needed immediate neo-natal observation, we recommended the child to the GH and a nurse along with Nirmala’s mother was sent to the GH. The admit card itself had its gender as ‘female’ and Nirmala’s mother was also aware of it. It was just a clerical error”, she said.