Bheri hospital of Nepalgunj, in Banke district, has been dragged into controversy time and again, mainly due to the negligence on the part of its health workers.
Since Wednesday night, the hospital has found itself surrounded in yet another controversy, after the relatives of Govinda BK and Chandra BK of Khajura, in the district’s Simalghari, have been in protest accusing the hospital of handing over a deceased child to the wrong mother.
The couple has alleged that their newborn was exchanged with the deceased newborn at the hospital.
Narrating the ordeal, Govinda said they protested against the hospital for swapping their newborn for a deceased newborn.
The incident came to light only after they saw the name tag placed on the hand of the deceased baby during the funeral where it was written Gita Tharu.
Following the night-long protest, a probe committee has been formed to investigate into the matter and get the DNA test conducted, said police.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Shyam Krishna Adhikari said that the dispute had been settled for a time being after the hospital administration assured them of taking action against the health workers if they were found guilty. The BK family has refused to accept the deceased body, said SP Adhikari.
The meeting of the stakeholders held at the hospital on Thursday morning decided to conduct a DNA test and form a probe committee, he added.
Chandra gave birth to a baby 10 days ago at the hospital. On Wednesday this week, the hospital handed them the body of the deceased child claiming that their baby died while undergoing treatment.
At that time the couple didn’t look at the face of the body which was wrapped up in a cloth.
They then reached Mankhola, near the Bardiya’s border, to bury the body.
But, the Govinda and his wife were shocked and outraged at the same time when they unwrap the cloth and realised that the baby was actually not theirs.
Govinda said, “As we were about to bury the dead body, we saw a different name in the tag on the baby’s hand. Shocked, we rushed to the Bheri Hospital with the body without carrying out the funeral.”
The couple and their relatives have been staging protest against the hospital, demanding it hand over their own baby and take action against the health workers.
Dev Giri, a police inspector stationed at the hospital, said, “There were two tags on the baby’s hand. On one, it was written Gita Chaudhary while Chandra B.K on the other.”
Following the dispute, the hospital administration admitted that they accidentally placed two tags on both hands with two different names.
The couple has now calmed down after seeing another tag.
Chief of the hospital Dr. Prakash Thapa said there was a practice of placing a tag on baby’s hand for their identification. But mistakenly the staff placed tags on both hands with different names.
He added that action would be taken against the health workers if found guilty after investigation and DNA test.
Source : TRN,
