KZN mother up in arms over alleged baby swap

A KwaZulu-Natal mother is pinning her hopes on DNA tests, after her baby was allegedly swapped at the Catherine Booth Hospital at Gingindlovu.

She arrived at the facility with her baby boy born a few days earlier. But hospital records, however, show that it was a girl.

The mother finally went home empty-handed.

32-year-old Khanyi Dube says she prematurely gave birth to a boy at her home last week Monday.

“We checked the baby and saw that it was a baby boy because she gave birth at our home in front of us. There were many witnesses who can attest to this,” says Khanyi’s sister, Brenda Dube.

A few hours later, the mother and newborn were rushed to the Catherine Booth Hospital.

She claims the baby was taken away from her because she has tuberculosis.

Dube says the next time she saw the baby was days later when they were transported to another hospital in Empangeni.

She says she was told that the baby needed specialised medical care.

“Just before we could reach eMpangeni, the paramedic asked what gender my baby was. I replied that my baby was a boy. He then said records show that it’s a girl. I told him that I don’t know of any baby girl because my baby is a boy. I want my baby boy. I know that my baby was a boy because I did a baby scan with my doctor. The doctor told me that the scan shows that my baby is a boy. Even the clinic told me that my baby is a boy,” says the heartbroken mother.

She says besides being the wrong infant, she appeared to be very sick.

“The baby girl was vomiting green stuff. I was shocked by this because my baby boy was born  healthy and was never sick. This baby’s stomach was swollen and bloated,”adds Dube.

The family says it wants the Department of Health to conduct DNA tests.

The provincial department says it will not comment on the matter yet.