DNA Test Reveals Baby Swap At United Bulawayo Hospitals
A woman who recently gave birth to a boy via Caesarean section at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) was shocked to be discharged with a baby girl.
As reported by the Chronicle, the mother, who cannot be named due to ethical concerns, found out that the parents of the baby girl had already travelled to Esigodini in Matabeleland South with her son.
A month later, the woman had to pay US$220 for DNA tests at a Bulawayo lab to prove the child given to her by a maternity nurse was not her biological offspring.
A woman from Cowdray Park, close to the mother, said that a scan the day before the birth confirmed she was expecting a boy. She said:
After the delivery, a nurse took the child for cleaning and returned it to the mother.
The mother, who had been taking photographs of her son, noticed the baby’s identification tag indicated it was a girl.
When the new mother noticed the discrepancy, she immediately alerted the nurse. However, the nurse dismissed her concerns, suggesting that the anaesthesia from the Caesarean section might have clouded her judgment.
According to the source, another expectant mother had been admitted to the ward just fifteen minutes before the operation but had already been discharged by the time the alert mother raised the alarm.
The mother informed her relatives about the situation. Her uncle suggested DNA testing, but the nurse opposed the idea, claiming it was too expensive.
Despite the nurse’s objections, the uncle insisted, and they proceeded with DNA testing at a lab in Bulawayo. The results confirmed that the baby girl was not her biological child.
Angry, the family returned to the hospital, demanding answers and the return of their son. Hospital staff located the other mother, who lived in Esigodini, Umzingwane District, and a hospital vehicle was sent to retrieve her.
The woman’s husband initially insisted that the child was theirs. The police were then involved, and the couple was brought to Bulawayo.
The hospital engaged the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) for DNA testing, which confirmed that the two babies had been exchanged.
Zephania Dlamini, head of the Applied Genetics Testing Centre at NUST, confirmed this shocking discovery to the Chronicle. He said:
In the Bulawayo case, two women who were in the same ward at UBH delivered around the same time.
The complainant asserted that her child was a boy, but when it was returned after cleaning, she was given a girl.
Dlamini further said that when confronted with the discrepancy, the other mother firmly insisted her child was a boy, a claim strongly backed by her husband. He said:
He even insisted that the ultrasound scan had confirmed the sex of the child as male. Before approaching NUST, the complainant had sought testing at the Global DNA lab in the city centre, which confirmed that the baby girl was not hers.
Our results corroborated these findings. Subsequent testing on the couple claiming to be the parents of the boy yielded negative results, while the boy’s DNA matched that of the complainant, and the girl’s DNA matched that of the other woman.
Dlamini revealed that the entire hospital administration was present during the testing process. UBH chief medical officer William Busumani declined to comment on the incident.
Maphios Siamuchembu, Provincial Medical Director for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, said he was unaware of any baby-swapping reports from UBH.
Renowned medical expert Solwayo Ngwenya called baby-swapping errors tragic but preventable with proper diligence.
Cultural expert Richard Ndebele said that baby swapping was rare in the past due to traditional village midwives.
He warned that those involved must be ready to face consequences, as misfortune could affect both the child and themselves.
Ndebele added that the child might struggle throughout life, and the perpetrators could incur the wrath of their ancestors.
Margaret Makumbe, a retired nurse with over 40 years of experience delivering more than 10,000 babies, said:
In my entire career, I never experienced that wherever I was deployed, neither did I hear of it anywhere else and I think this was because we did what we did out of love.
I just wonder how such a mistake can happen because once a baby is delivered the mother is shown the child before it’s taken away for cleaning with a name tag already strapped on the wrist.
Makumbe, during her tenure at Mpilo Hospital, achieved an extraordinary feat by delivering an incredible 15 babies in a single night.
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