Three staffs of the Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla were on Saturday transferred over the baby girl swapping incident at the hospital last month. The transferred staffs are two nurses and an attendant.
VIMSAR Director Sunamali Bag said action would be taken against the trio after submission of a final report of the committee probing the incident. “Footprints of pregnant women and infants will be kept in order to avoid such situations in future,” Bag said.
It may be recalled that Gagan Bihari Patra of Naktideula in Sambalpur district had brought his baby daughter to the VIMSAR on May 21 for treatment. However, he was told by the hospital authorities that his baby died while undergoing treatment and he was handed over a dead girl child. Gagan refused to accept the deceased infant alleging that his child has been swapped. He claimed that the child in bed number 17 of the SNCU was his baby. On the other hand, the parents of the child undergoing treatment on bed number 17 claimed that it was their child.
Gagan had filed a complaint at the Burla police outpost that his baby was swapped with another one in the hospital. Gagan and his wife didn’t accept that the dead baby girl was theirs and demanded a DNA test.
The blood samples of both the women and their babies were sent to the State Forensic lab in Bhubaneswar. After confirmation of the identity of the child through a DNA test, it was established that the live baby belongs to Gagan while the deceased child was of the other couple.
Eventually, the baby girl was handed over to her parents in the presence of police and the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on June 9.