Mumbai:
A girl was born to Prabhat and Aradhana Mishra on October 3 -- an auspicious sign just before the beginning of Navratri. They planned to call her Devi. But their smiles vanished the next day when they got an anonymous call that Aradhana had delivered a boy, who was swapped with a girl.
The Mishras called back on the number to find that it was from a PCO near Nair hospital, where Aradhana was admitted. "We were happy to have a girl in this auspicious season. It's a good sign. But the call has sowed doubt in our minds," said Prabhat's father, Suresh Chandra Mishra. "Whether it's a boy or a girl, the child should be ours. The hospital must do a DNA test."
The family wrote to the dean of the hospital as well as the Agripada police on October 5. "The hospital authorities are making us run from pillar to post. Instead of a DNA test, they did a blood test. They said the father's blood group is O+, mother's B+, and the girl's B+, which is why the girl is ours. But what kind of evidence is this?" said Suresh.
"And why is the hospital hesitating from doing a DNA test?"
The hospital's dean, Dr Ravi Rananavare, said, "A DNA test is done only for forensics. None of the municipal hospitals have this facility.
"We have a proper protocol to show the baby to the mother... Apparently, the mother has no complaints. It is the grandfather (Suresh) who claims to have got a call. But you cannot make allegations based on this. We are trying to explain it to the family, and hopefully the issue will get resolved."
The couple is devastated. "It's not one of the best feelings to be not sure if the baby in her arms is her own. You can understand the condition of my wife," said Prabhat. "No one in the family has slept or eaten well since we received the call from the stranger, who said she was a nurse."
Sordid sagas- In January 2009, Chembur couple Mohan and Mohini Nerurkar's three-day-old boy was kidnapped from Sion Hospital
- In December 2007, Dharavi's Rajmani and Sheela Jaiswal alleged that their newborn boy had been swapped for a girl at Sion Hospital. A DNA test established link between Sheela and the girl, but the couple remained unconvinced.
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