Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Oct 15: A family from Kundapur has alleged bungling by the doctors of Lady Goschen Hospital here. The parents claim that the hospital had issued records during the delivery, confirming that the newborn was female. However, after 18 days, when the child was taken to another hospital for advanced treatment, they came to know that their baby was male. This has given rise to a sense of indignation and suspicion in them.
A woman from Kundapur had been admitted into Lady Goschen Hospital her on September 27 for delivery. Father of the child, Mustafa, said that the hospital staff had told him that the newborn was female. Surgery was performed for delivery. As the health of the child became volatile, it was kept in the intensive care unit of the hospital for 18 days. As the doctors were unable to provide clear and concrete information about the child's health condition, the parents chose to shift the child to a private hospital in Brahmavar, Udupi district, where they realised that the child was male.
"We then brought the child back to Lady Goschen Hospital and questioned the medical officers. We were then told that the baby was our own and that the mistake had occurred when entering in the hospital records," Mustafa stated.
Relating to this controversy, the medical superintendent of the hospital, Durgaprasad M R, clarified the position.
He said that no hospital indulges in exchange of babies. "At the time of writing the notes by a doctor, a mistake was committed. Data entry is done based on the notes. The doctor had wrongly mentioned that the child born to a lady from Kundapur was female. But actually a baby boy was born to this family. We have given clarification to the family. When the lady got admitted for delivery, she was facing a high blood pressure issue. In order to ensure safety of the woman and her child, we had performed the delivery through surgical procedure," he stated.
He admitted that the hospital had erred when making a mention of the gender of the child and sought apology for the same. He also regretted the pain this mistake created among the family members and the mother of the child. He insisted that it was wrong to say that the child had been exchanged.
Durgaprasad, referring to the allegation that the child has health problems, clarified that the hospital undertook checks and found that the child does not have any health problems as alleged by a Kundapur hospital.