'Exchange' of baby at Govt. hospital triggers uproar

By Our Staff Reporter

WARANGAL, NOV. 28. A woman who gave birth to a baby at the CKM Government Maternity Hospital here on Sunday afternoon is refusing to nurse it alleging that the hospital staff had exchanged a boy child born to her with a girl.

She is blaming a mid-wife at the hospital, Saroja, who handled the newborn child, for exchanging the baby as she was not given tips according to her demand.

As the woman, Thatikala Umadevi, has refused to nurse the child, the hospital authorities are taking care of it. They have decided to refer the woman and the child for DNA test at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad on Wednesday to settle the controversy.

Following a police complaint preferred by Umadevi's mother, Yakamma, that the boy child was stolen by the hospital staff, the authorities have asked the police to place a requisition for DNA test.

The Superintendent of Police, Mr. V.P. Apte, accordingly issued the requisition and the woman and the child will be shifted to Hyderabad for the test on Wednesday morning.

The dramatic events at the hospital unfolded around 2 p.m. on Sunday when Umadevi, a native of Lyabarthi village of Wardhannapet mandal, was said to have given birth to a girl child. The sex of the child was supposed to have been announced to Umadevi by the mid-wife, Saroja, immediately after her delivery but Umadevi has stuck to her guns that she was only told about the birth of a boy child.

Since the child was not crying immediately after delivery in the labour room, the duty doctor took it to the operation theatre for resuscitation. The baby was given oxygen and after 20 minutes it was taken back to the mother.

It was then that Umadevi refused to accept the child as she was fully convinced she got a boy child but what was brought to her after resuscitation was only a girl. Whereas Dr. T. Indira, a post-graduate student who attended the case, said Umadevi's mother had even exclaimed `ayyo papa' (poor girl) when the sex of the child was announced to them.

Dr. B. Anuradha, duty doctor, also said Yakamma and other attendants of Umadevi had also seen the child while it was being mopped soon after resuscitation.

Whereas Umadevi and Yakamma are firm that the mid-wife had in fact shown to them a boy child. The mid-wife may have exchanged the boy child with the girl because her palms were not greased. She had demanded a tip of Rs. 170 but her brother gave only Rs. 150. An angry Saroja put the entire Rs. 150 in a relative's pocket and walked off in a huff, according to Umadevi.

As news about the theft of Umadevi's child from the hospital spread in her native village of Lyabarthi, a large number of people from the village thronged the hospital and created a scene. The mid-wife was even caught and given a couple of blows by some women.

The crowd under the leadership of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) staged a rasta roko at Warangal crossroads. Umadevi's husband, Yadagiri, an SC youth, who was away in Surat, also rushed to the hospital.

The Warangal Mayor, Dr. T. Rajeswara Rao, visited the hospital and tried to pacify the crowd. He held discussions with the in- charge Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. K.S. Saraswati, and other doctors as also the mid-wife.

Dr. Saraswati explained that only two boy children were born at the hospital between 10.20 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday and the parentage of both of them was confirmed. She asked how then could the boy child of Umadevi have been exchanged with a girl.

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