LAHORE: A DNA test result and an inquiry report proved false the allegations of a couple against doctors of Lahore General Hospital of switching their newborn.

Abid Ali, in his application on Aug 4 to the hospital administration, had claimed that his wife Hina had given birth to a baby boy but the staff had handed them over a girl.

A team of senior doctors, which was constituted to probe the allegations, had completed its inquiry and was awaiting the DNA test report to reach a conclusion.“The drop scene of the incident happened when the DNA test report disclosed that Abid and Hina are the biological parents of the baby girl handed over to them,” LGH Chief Executive Prof Dr Anjum Habib Vohra told Dawn on Tuesday.

The hospital management had decided to conduct a DNA test to determine the claim of the family instead of a routine departmental inquiry only.

“We took more steps and decided to take the couple and the newborn to a lab for sampling to ensure reliability of the tests rather than taking swabs at the institute,” Dr Vohra said, adding it was the only reliable way to establish the identity of the baby.

A parallel departmental inquiry, headed by Prof Dr Farrukh Zaman, was also ordered by a team of senior medics of the institute.

“Though the inquiry report had initially proved through custody documents and statements of the parents and relevant staff that the allegations were false, but we were awaiting the DNA test report,” Dr Vohra said.

In order to check such incidents in future, the hospital administration had installed eight more CCTV cameras in the emergency department, raising the total number of cameras to 24, Prof Vohra said.

“It has also been decided that in future every newborn baby will be handed over to the parents in front of CCTV cameras,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2014