Gauteng security officer praised for raising baby swop alarm
Praise is being heaped on a Gauteng security officer who helped uncover a hospital blunder after two newborn babies were accidentally swopped.
The baby boy and a woman who had given birth at Chris Hani Baragwanath were discharged on Monday.
But the quick-thinking guard noticed that the baby's name tag did not match the mother's and alerted the nursing staff.
MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko says it was later confirmed that the mother was discharged with the wrong baby.
Her child was with another woman, who'd already gone home.
The MEC says they eventually reunited the mothers with their newborns.
She says the team on duty didn't follow standard procedure when discharging the women and their babies.
"We have managed to bring back the child to the real mother and the other one to the other mother, but it was going to be a problem because if we didn't do that there were definitely going to be consequences.
"Now we are in the process of doing DNAs and counselling the mothers and both families because they went through trauma.
"Even if it was for a few hours but for the mere fact that there was that mistake that was done and we want to apologise to both families for the mishap that has happened in our institution."
