There was confusion at the Kiambu Level Five Hospital on Tuesday after a mother returned a baby she had taken home, claiming she had been given a girl instead of the boy she delivered.
Curiously, Ms Lydia Gathoni, 31, breastfed the baby on Monday and Tuesday morning, and realised the anomaly only Tuesday.
FRANTIC SEARCH
Accompanied by her husband and other family members, Ms Gathoni returned to the hospital and raised the issue with the management.
The complaint prompted a search for other two women who delivered at about the same time she did.
By about 3pm, the medical team had managed to trace three women who had been in the same ward as Ms Gathoni. She then identified her child.
She lay the blame for the mix-up squarely on the hospital’s negligence, saying the matter should be investigated to find out whether there was child trafficking syndicate within the hospital.
“My wife was admitted to Kiambu Level Five Hospital on Sunday evening after developing labour pains. All along we knew the child was supposed to be a baby boy, only to be shocked on Tuesday morning when my wife was attending to the child and realised that it was a girl,” her husband, Mr Boniface Mathenge, told the Nation at the hospital.
“The sad thing is that my child was breastfed by another woman and you know the implications that can arise out of such a thing,” he said.
The hospital’s superintendent, Dr Jesse Ngugi, said he had been briefed on the incident and was following up to find out how the mix-up might have happened.
DNA TEST
“I am aware of the incident, having been briefed this morning and I am following up on the issue to ascertain how it happened. I would urge for patience until this matter is investigated and a report issued by Wednesday,” he told the Nation on phone.
On Tuesday evening, Ms Gathoni, who was still recovering from the shock, was readmitted to the hospital, where she will remain until Friday after the management insisted that she undergo a DNA test.
The woman who had been given her child will also undergo a DNA test.
Efforts to get Ms Gathoni to comment on the incident were futile
Kiambu Level 5 Hospital has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, after it emerged early this year that 60 babies had died at the facility in what was largely attributed to negligence by the health workers, especially during delivery.