The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered the dismissal of three employees of the government maternity hospital in Hyderabad for their involvement in a baby swapping case.

Staff nurse Swarna Mary, health assistant Suryakala and ward boy Surendra Raju were arrested by CID sleuths on Tuesday.
 
The three were on duty at the hospital's nursery between April 17 and 24, when a male child was swapped with a baby girl.
 
Nazeer Ahmed, husband of Mahmooda Begum, from whom the male child was recovered, has also been taken into custody.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu this morning chaired a meeting at his residence to discuss the baby swapping case.
 
The chief minister has instructed senior health officials to put in place a fool-proof mechanism to prevent such incidents.

The government is also contemplating disciplinary action against the hospital's superintendent, senior doctors and other staff.

"We received the inquiry committee report on Tuesday. There is negligence on the part of the hospital authorities. We are contemplating action against those responsible for the lapses. We will be discussing the matter with the health minister [Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao] before a final decision is taken," M Chaya Ratan, Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Department, told rediff.com on Wednesday.

Maternity Hospital Superintendent Dr M Umamaheshwar Rao, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Dr Pratibha, Professor of Paediatrics Dr Chandrakala, duty doctors and assistant professors of paediatrics, Dr Vanamala and Dr Lakshmi Nalini, are among those facing action.

The inquiry panel has faulted the hospital superintendent for not carrying out an in-depth inquiry into the incident and ruling out any child swapping initially.

Latha Reddy, who had delivered a male child, was handed over a female baby even though documents clearly showed that a male baby was born to her.
   
The panel found that Latha's delivery was handled by the junior-most post-graduate student, even though two duty doctors and senior post-graduates were free at that time.

The report said the staff in charge of the nursery did not supervise the functioning of the staff nurses. This resulted in simple tasks such as bathing the babies being delegated to dayas and other class IV employees.

With PTI inputs

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 18 Sub: baby Swapping Chandrababu Naidu has done a great job. I think Andra Politicians are very uneducated and backward people, unlike in other states. more than that anything ... Posted by gauravghare Sub: Baby swapping We would be happy to learn about the fate of one more similar case which happened a couple of weeks back in a Kolkata nursing ... Posted by Tapan Sub: Dismiss the doctors too Lower level employees were dismissed and the higher level employees spared. Atmost they may be transferred. The doctors may continue to behave that way if ... Posted by Rahul Bobba Sub: Get your facts right Mr. Who ever you are, you are totally wrong in saying that the people of AndhraPradesh are "BACKWARD" in welcoming a Girl child into their family. ... Posted by Whatever Sub: Rediculous This is rediculous, and is not the first time this is happening in the Government Hospitals. Real Stern Action has to be taken against the ... Posted by Srinivas