The Government Maternity Hospital in Egmore has suspended an employee in connection with the mix-up of newborns at the facility last week.
According to hospital authorities, a nurse who was in the labour ward has been held responsible for the mistake. P. Meenalochani, director of Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, to which the hospital is attached, said that the details of the newborns were wrongly entered.
The family of the woman who was said to have delivered a girl have also contended that they would not have given permission for a family-planning surgery if they had known that the sex of the child was female.
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However, Dr. Meenalochani clarified that the consent for family-planning surgery is taken before the woman is taken into the ward for delivery. “When they are pregnant for the second time and if they come for a second caesarean section, we take consent for family-planning operation. That night 17 women had undergone caesarean section. On an average the hospital records 46 deliveries every day and 50 per cent of them are caesarean deliveries, Dr. Meenalochani explained.
“The babies were being fed by their biological mothers though the family members were upset,” she added.