In a rare case of mix-up, two newborns delivered within 10 minutes of each other at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, in Puducherry, were swapped. The hospital has decided to conduct DNA tests to determine their parentage and clear the confusion in the minds of the parents.
The confusion was created when the mothers’ names on the tags on the newborns’ wrists did not match with the respective mothers.
Vijayalakshmi of Mudaliarpet in Puducherry delivered a boy on August 21 morning; 10 minutes later, Anitha of Thilaspet also delivered a boy in the same ward. Though both had normal deliveries, Vijayalakshmi experienced some minor problems and had to be kept in the labour room for a few minutes, while Anitha was moved to a ward. It is believed that at this time the mix-up happened. The mothers, who alleged negligence by the staff on duty in the maternity wing of the hospital, said Anitha’s baby bore a tag with Vijayalakshmi’s name on it, and vice versa.
When Vijayalakshmi was given her baby, she noticed something amiss and raised an alarm.
This led to a scrutiny by the authorities. The disc numbers on the tags were checked against that of the respective mothers, and the weight of the babies as recorded in the register were crosschecked. The error was identified and the correct babies were handed over to their mothers. Authorities said the mistake occurred due to negligence of staff in the labour ward.