Hospital exchanged' newly-born son with girl, claims Maharashtra couple

Bid: A couple in Maharashtra's Beed has filed a police complaint alleging that a local private hospital had "exchanged" their infant son with a girl, officials said.

"Chayya and Raju Thite, residents of Kuppa village in Wadvani tehsil of Beed, have alleged that Shree Child Hospital, on discharge, gave them a baby girl on May 21 though they had admitted their newborn son there," said a police official.

"The parents have claimed that they shifted their underweight son, born in Beed district civil hospital on May 11, to Shree Child Hospital where the infant was kept in an incubator till May 21," the official informed.

Inspector Sayyad Suleman of Beed city police station said that all documents pertaining to the infant's birth and hospitalisation had been collected from Beed district civil hospital as well as Shree Child Hospital.

"Footprints of the child discharged from Shree Child Hospital have been taken and have been sent to Aurangabad for further investigation," said the police official.

G Shridhar, Superintendent of Police, Beed said that DNA tests would be carried out on the couple as well as the infant.

"It takes about eight days for the DNA test report to come in but we will try to get it in the next three to four days. The girl child, meanwhile, will be kept at Beed district civil hospital," Shridhar said.

When contacted, district civil surgeon Dr Ashok Thorat said that Beed district civil hospital records showed that a baby boy was born to the couple on May 11.

Dr Sachin Jethliya of Shree Child Hospital, however, refuted the allegations and said the couple had admitted a baby girl on May 11.

"We have CCTV footage that we will provide to the police. The allegations are false," he said.