RAWALPINDI, May 15: Police and the government-run Holy Family Hospital are investigating the claim of a pregnant woman that she was carrying twins but the hospital delivered her just one baby.

Noisy protests by the relatives of the complainant Ms Naseem at the time of her discharge from the hospital on Tuesday, caused the police and the hospital management to institute separate inquiries into the mysterious  twin.

Her cousin Bilal Abbasi told Dawn that when she was brought to the hospital from Shahlay Valley on Friday her pregnancy reports handed to the medical staff of the hospital showed she was carrying twins.

She was taken to the labour room the next morning. There she underwent caesarean section and was informed by the hospital staff that she had delivered a son who had been put in the nursery.

“She was surprised, as was the family, because her medical reports had suggested that she was carrying twins,” Bilal said. “We however kept silent at the time because the baby born to Naseem was still with the hospital staff in the nursery.

“It was after they handed the baby to her and discharged her on Tuesday that we decided to register our protest,” he added.

Ms Naseem’s family insisted that all the pre-natal medical reports said she was pregnant with twins. They accused the hospital administration and para-medical staff of “stealing” her second baby.

Deputy medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Malik Nadeem, said a committee had been formed “to establish the truth” after a complaint was received that a newborn baby was missing.

A similar complaint was lodged by Naseem’s husband, Sagheer Ahmed Abbasi, with the New Town police who have also started investigating.

Police said they would proceed according to the law in the light of the report of the hospital’s inquiry committee.