Hà Nội’s Department of Health has officially provided comprehensive information about the delivery of two new-borns to the wrong parents at Ba Vì District’s General Hospital six years ago, a case which has drawn public attention in recent days.— Photo soha.vn

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s Department of Health has officially provided comprehensive information about the delivery of two new-borns to the wrong parents at Ba Vì District’s General Hospital six years ago, a case which has drawn public attention in recent days.

On July 11, the Ministry of Health received a letter from Phùng Giang Sơn, a resident of Ba Vì District, to complain about the error of Ba Vì General Hospital, which had given him the wrong baby in 2012.

In the letter, Sơn said his wife, Phùng Thị Thu Hiền, gave birth on November 1, 2012 at the hospital. When receiving the new-born, he and his wife were suspicious because the baby wore a diaper different from the one they had seen him before. However, the doctors insisted the baby was theirs.

As the boy grew up, he looked different from the couple. They took DNA tests and found that the boy was not their biological child.

The couple later worked with the hospital, which tracked down the other family involved in the mix-up of the two new-borns. Vũ Thị Hương, who lived about ten kilometres away from Sơn’s house, was raising Sơn’s biological son.

A report from the hospital revealed that as soon as it received complaints about the baby mix-up on March 23, the hospital revised medical records to verify the incident.

The record now states that on November 1, 2012, the hospital received two pregnant women.

Vũ Thị Hương, 35, in Phú Sơn Commune, delivered a baby boy weighing 3.8kg at 6.50am the next morning. She named the boy Đoàn Nhật M.

Phùng Thị Thu Hiền, 29, in Tây Đằng Commune, delivered a baby boy weighing 3.1kg 20 minutes later. Hiền named her child Phùng Thanh H.

The DNA tests at the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Science Institute supplied by Phùng Giang Sơn, father of Phùng Thanh H, showed that there was a mix-up in delivering the two baby boys. Hiền and Sơn, in fact, were the biological parents of M, and Hương was the biological parent of H.

The Department of Health sent a document requiring the hospital to clarify the incident and closely work with the two families to resolve it. The hospital was also asked to find out those who took responsibility for the error and report the result to the department.

Ba Vì General Hospital admitted the error. Nguyễn Quốc Hùng, director of the hospital, said that the hospital had disciplined medical workers involved in the delivery of the two new-borns on that day.

Vũ Thị Thanh Mai, a physician, and Nguyễn Thị Đức, a midwife, received warnings and a reprimand for their violations. They were forced to stop practising the obstetrics profession and will no longer work at tasks such as delivering babies, giving baths or caring for babies.

Dr Nguyễn Hồng Quang is required to get experience in urging medical workers to strictly follow their professional regulations.

At the same time, the hospital has reviewed all technical and professional procedures in obstetrics department to avoid error in delivering new-borns to their parents. The practices of numbering mothers and children immediately after the birth and receiving signatures from parents when they receive babies must be strictly followed.

Hùng said the hospital had covered all the costs of taking DNA tests and some other expenses worth VNĐ47.5 million (US$2,090) following Sơn’s request.    

On April 14, the hospital representative met with both families and promised to help return the boys to their families. However, the hospital claims the amount of compensation the affected families have requested is too high.

The amount worth VNĐ300 million ($13,200) exceeds the hospital’s payment capacity. As a result, the hospital sent documents to the district’s People’s Court to consider the case according to the current law, he said.

At the meeting with the hospital last Friday, Vũ Cao Cương of the Health Department asked the hospital to meet with the two families and come up with solutions to the incident before July 20.

He reminded the hospital about the goal of reuniting the two boys with their biological parents, and told the hospital to compensate the families based on the current regulations.

On the same day, the department required all hospitals to revise professional and technical procedures in obstetrics to avoid the mix-up of new-borns.

The department assigned Hà Nội’s Maternity Hospital to provide training and guidance to units implementing obstetric procedures to avoid mistakes. — VNS