Pretoria - Two Gauteng mothers are receiving trauma counselling to help them cope with their ordeal after their newborn babies were swopped at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
On Thursday, the Gauteng Department of Health said a baby that was incorrectly released to a family has been reunited with its biological mother.
“On Tuesday, 18 April 2023, a 35-year-old mother, who had given birth to a baby boy the previous day was mistakenly discharged with the wrong baby. A security official noticed that the baby boy had a name tag that did not match with that of the mother and immediately alerted the nursing staff,” the Gauteng Department of Health said.
“The team on duty did not follow standard operating procedure in place within the hospital when discharging the mother and the baby. When the matter was further looked into, it was confirmed that the mother was discharged with the wrong baby.”
It was at that stage that the mother who had been discharged with the “wrong baby” was followed to her home, and brought back to the hospital to resolve the matter.
“Health checks were conducted on the baby prior to him being reunited with his biological mother,” the Gauteng Department of Health said.
“The second patient who is still admitted at the hospital is a 31-year-old mother whose child was mistakenly released to a wrong family. She was alerted of this and later reunited with her child. Both families are receiving trauma counselling to help them deal with the ordeal.”
The Gauteng Department of Health said both families had agreed to DNA and related tests “to put the matter to rest once and for all”.
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has apologised to the families.
“We thank the security officer for his alertness as this situation could have turned out much worse. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to both families. The department will take corrective action for this kind of negligence,” she said.
IOL