The much-hyped child swapping case which had occurred here about more than a month back was finally settled on Monday evening, as the DNA test report which arrived here on Monday, revealed that the blood samples collected from the baby girl matched with the parents, who had refused to accept and have been claiming that they had a male child.
Even after confirmation of the report, the parents were reluctant to accept the child here, raising questions about the legitimacy of the report. However, after proper explanation by the police officials and others, they accepted the child here on Monday evening.
On August 29 last, Rita lakra, wife of Budun lakra, a resident of Rameswarpalli had delivered a child in the Rourkela Government Hospital. The hospital staff members had informed her that she had delivered a girl child. The girl being sick, it was kept in a Special
Neonatal Care Unit (SNCO) of the hospital. Since the child was not able to suck mother’s milk, the hospital authorities had discharged the lady on August 30, keeping the child in SNCU. However, after being discharged, lakra was given a slip where it was mentioned that she had delivered a male child.
lakra and her husband Budun had gone home quietly. On September 7 last, they were contacted by the hospital authorities, informing her that her new born baby was recuperating. lakra was requested to provide breast feeding to the baby at the hospital. lakra and her husband reached the hospital and claimed that they had a male child and refused to accept the female baby. They also showed their discharge slip, which put the hospital authorities in dilemma. lakra later lodged a FIR and also staged a demonstration along with hundreds of others from her locality demanding a male child. The hospital authorities admitted that they had committed an error on the discharge slip.
“We had earlier tried to convince her intimating the fact that by mistake only it was written as a ‘male child’ on her discharge card by the duty nurse, but the couple was rigid on its claim, following which the police administration had ordered for a DNA test,” said Chief Medical Officer of Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) S Pradhan.
“We are happy that the case has now settled after confirmation through DNA test,” Pradhan added.The child was handed over to the couple in presence of senior police officials, including Deputy Superintendent of police Rashmi Kanta Mishra, Raghunathpalli police station IIC RC Dora and CMO Pradhan.