Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar to tag newborns to prevent baby-swapping  

From now onwards, a tag will be attached to the leg of newborn babies at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. The hospital authorities have taken a decision to add a tag to the leg of babies immediately after their births following the recent allegation of baby swap, which was later proved to be false. 

Informing about the decision, Capital Hospital director Laxmidhar Sahu said, “Immediately after delivery, the mother will be informed about the gender of the newborn, the baby’s footprint will be kept and present staff will write down all the details regarding the baby.”

“From now onwards, the attendant will get the gender of the newborn babies verified with the doctors and then inform the family members. So that, no wrong message would go out. This apart, if the baby is healthy, a tag will be tied to its leg, so that no confusion will arise,” he added. 

He further said that action will be taken against those who are bringing baby swap allegations. 

“Hospital is a temple. It is not a business centre. So there is no question of swapping babies here. Those who are tarnishing the reputation of the hospital by bringing such allegations should be punished. We are also contemplating taking action against such persons,” he added. 

For that person, the valuable time of the police and the court is wasted. Legal action can be taken against the man responsible for this, he added. 

Meanwhile, Pranakrushna Biswal, who had brought the baby-swapping allegations against the Capital Hospital authorities, said he would file a case against the hospital.

“I did not lie. I said what their staff had told me. They have suspended the staff for the mistake. I had to stay at the hospital for 12 days while waiting for the DNA report due to their fault. I had been under stress. So I would rather file a case against the Capital Hospital authorities for wasting my time and putting me under stress,” said Biswal. 

Notably, Pranakrushna Biswal, a resident of Rajkanika area in Kendrapara district had said that his wife delivered a child at around 10:30 pm on September 25. His family was informed about the delivery of a male child. However, they found that it was a girl child when they tried to take a picture of the infant. 

In this connection, he had lodged a complaint at Capital police station. Subsequently, blood samples from the mother and the newborn baby were collected as per the court norm and the same were handed over to the police. The police had sent them to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) for DNA testing.

The DNA report confirmed that the child-swapping allegation was false and that the couple’s child was a girl.