Kitwe Central Hospital (KCH) management has insisted that claims by a Kitwe couple that their newly-born baby boy was swapped for a female are baseless.
KCH senior medical superintendent John Mwewa said as far as the hospital was concerned, there was no baby swap that transpired as claimed by the mother whose child was born on August 24, 2012.
Dr Mwewa said this during a press briefing held at KCH yesterday which was convened to give the hospital position on the controversy over alleged baby swap at the hospital.
Sara Mwanza, 18, of Kamitondo Township house number 1333 together with her spouse has accused medical personnel at KCH of having swapped their baby.
According to Ms Mwanza, at the time of giving birth at Buchi clinic, there was no electricity at the institution causing her to deliver under candle light and that in the process of delivery, there was some complication leading to her being transferred to KCH.
She claimed that it was in the process of this complication that her child was swapped.
[pullquote]Dr Mwewa confirmed that tests were done on the baby and it was found that it had enlarged clitoris which he suspected could have been mistaken for a penis because the baby was born under candle light at Buchi clinic.[/pullquote]
But Dr Mwewa said the hospital planned to do a Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test in South Africa to determine the exact parentage of the disputed baby.
He said that the hospital was doing everything in its power to facilitate DNA test for the baby.
Dr Mwewa explained that after delivery, Ms Mwanza was rushed to KCH around midnight after nurses at Buchi clinic failed to control her bleeding.
He said the baby was put in a resuscitator just to keep her warm as the nurses where attending to the mother who was bleeding profusely and was almost unconscious.
“As soon as the mother was stable the baby was given back to the mother and they were discharged,” he said.
Dr Mwewa confirmed that tests were done on the baby and it was found that it had enlarged clitoris which he suspected could have been mistaken for a penis because the baby was born under candle light at Buchi clinic.
Dr Mwewa said the hospital was surprised that on August 27, they received a complaint from the family that their baby had been swapped.
He said upon receiving the complaint, management instituted a committee to give details of what had occurred.
He also confirmed that on 15th October the parents came to the hospital complaining that the baby had complications on the umbilical cord and they needed help to take care of the baby
Dr Mwewa said an operation will soon be done soon and the growth was caused because the wound was not properly.
so we cant do a simple DNA test after 46 years in the system?
well, have you done yours??? So though you are abroad, one wonders why you haven’t done yours! It isn’t like buying lollies!!
zero’s question is valid; DNA testing shouldn’t be outsourced. We have a healthcare workforce and corresponding institutions do we not? So what’s to prevent that from being a possibility. @Boxale, what does one having done their own DNA testing have to do with Zambia not being able to perform one?
What i do see is opportunity here, one to sell the technology to healthcare institutions to be able to do them.
like this product from USA: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Identigene-DNA-Paternity-Test-Collection-Kit/10740658
@1 It’s not called Zambia the real Africa for no reason.
Its no longer Zambia the real Africa it now Zambia lets explore
After so many years of independence, still no DNA, am with PA Zed here, Zambia the real Africa indeed.
WHAT? Zambia can not do DNA tasting?…..and then “enlarged clitoris” mistaken for a penis…..mama. This is a joke nje!
Enlarged clitoris futi ? Hope it i will reduce in time before she turns in to a woman otherwise she will never have……
Was that necessary sure Zebige?!
You Zebige mwalatusebanya, you dont need to be a gynocologist to know that at birth, both the male and female organs are huge, the clit is bigger than usual and the balls you know what i mean are also bigger than normal, eventually gets back to know, bukopoubu kubulaya?
i meant gets back to normal.
I am told Nkanza hospital can do DNA test. someone confirm that.
Is this Mwewa a real doctor? Would a clitoris be so enlarged that it be mistaken for a penis? These Government hospitals need to accept that they have problems and they are inept when it comes to problem resolution because they cannot accept that there are problems. I can’t believe the rubbish we are treated to!!
Electricity is supposed to be a commodity that every Zambian should enjoy…especially in an institution like Buchi Clinic…we are really out of touch, cant perform a medical DNA analysis (i actually now wounder if the police have a lab…), cant print our own ballot papers, cant, cant, cant…
Government, please consider investing some money and procure a DNA centre in Zambia…i will be the first one to use it!!!
Iwe Minister of Lies – you have left out the deception fact that the baby was born under candle light. Remember how you use it to see ugly women as beautiful? The same way that baby’s enlarged part looked like a male member…
Nkanza Lab in Lusaka is able to do DNA tests
I wonder how many criminal cases have gone wrong due to the fact that DNA cannot be done.must be thousands . I will never return to zambia
I was chatting with an Acquittance of mine a NURSE and i asked how come someone with a broken leg in Europe just takes a month or two to heal and you see the guy running about like normal unlike the situation here in Zambia where you never fully recover. I didn’t expect the Answer as it was very SIMPLE, she said our equipment is 40 years behind. My question is why did that Clinic not have a backup Generator when state house has? who is more important between state house and the clinic who saves lives guys lets be serious no wonder these politician go out isde the country they know our HOSPITALS are just Bulids with FACILITIES.
Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, you guys never cease to amaze me!!!!!
Honestly speaking do you need to be so clouded in your head that even simple reasoning is no were nearyou? first of all you are correct on technology, but i have a probleem of you politicising everything, it takes more than a generator in order to recover. Though all equipment and technology is vital, the patient are also contributors to their recovery, their diet, altitude, hygine, mental and emotional wel being etc, problem ku africa pipo are so lazy and ignorant so much that life becomes unbearable even when it dont need to be! i hate people who want every thing to be done are given to them, and all they do is complain and point vingers, grow up and be an example!
if I may ask…what does it take to do a DNA test…any special expensive equipment that zambia cant afford to buy….or any special knowledge that zambian doctors can not grasp?
Bunch of liars,what clitoris enlargement?
I reccomend looking into a Anatomy and physiology text book or google enlarged clitoris (Clitoromegaly) …
Shame! Surely the last sentence isnt finished:…………………Dr Mwewa said an operation will soon be done soon and the growth was caused because the wound was not properly.
This is potentially a long term problem for the parents and the baby. I only hope the baby does not have any more complications that makes it less acceptable to whoever its parents. The current parents have negative affections for this child, such that it will be hard for them to accept and love it whatever the outcome of the tests – it will be forcing matters; zero option love. I hope it is not just the SEX they dislike about the baby – bayanda musankwa? Life should not start like this; God forbid!
A clinic cant even have a small Genset. Its pa bwato zo ona
baby delivered under candle light, enlarged clit mistaken for penis, staff could not control bleeding, growth on baby due to improper…, meanwhile the hospital is happy with the job well done. Right in the city of Kitwe not in shangombo or kaputa. Life can be tough for a poor man in urban zed, you are better off in the village you dont find such carelessness..
You are so right Badger.
Can some one who is a lawyer help this couple milk some money from this foolish Doctor, he just admitted one wrong that the wound was not properly treated hence the child complications. This can even go further that the truth could be they “swaped the babies” he just can’t accept it.
On DNA am afraid if this hospital sends the samples themselves chances are that results may be manipulated. Let an Independent body do the DNA. Kitwe Central Hospital is an interested party in this case, they can not be trusted to facilitate the DNA or handling samples even suggesting the Hospital in South Africa to do DNA tests.
What a clitoris! To look like the size of a penis. Are these guys telling us the truth?
ubufutu bubisana mune, educate yoour selves all you have to do is google whatever questions you have.. the answers are there. Abasungu balibomba kale!!
Ama Zambians ifitala.. just because you dont know about something doesn’t mean its does not exist! That’s why mwaipaile ne choni ( magicbird) ati nindoshi :o
1 in 5000 – 15 000 baby girls are born with a condition known as CAH ( Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia) in some baby girls this not very noticeable, but in others it may look like a small penis. “Congenital” means the condition is ‘present at birth’. “Adrenal Glands” are cone shaped organs that sits on top of the kidneys. “Hyperplasia” means ‘overly large’.
Babies with CAH are born with a number of physical changes. Their Adrenal glands are often larger than normal even at birth. Girls born with CAH maybe born with external sexual organs and they may later in life appear more masculine than they should…
What makes you be so certain that the spokesperson for KCH cant use the same Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) as a defensive mechanism against their inept and otherwise possibility of the Hospital being sued for negligency – thus liability against the said parents’ right to loss or/claim?…You call your self Gelo Wanzelu having googled this on the net or indeed when everyone else can google this info – aevery jim and jack can search this on the net the difference lies in the details of how one balances/analyzes the info at their disporsal….for your information at about two weeks ago the same KCH spokesperson did issue statement to the fact that the DNA in question is subject to the other part in this case the said parents to meet part of the cost…now you ask yourself???
dr. mwewa, just accept that there is a big problem here than subjecting yourself to this rhetoric. shame on you. by the way who are you trying to please or protect here?
I am sorry and uncomfortable reading this story in all honest
I hope she gets well and finds the true identity of that blessing
Just spoke to Nick during our breakfast he is disgusted to hear this
Thanks
ignorance is a bad thing .. tsk tsk
lelo wafikwako. Kanshi despite all that bragging ma PHD yakonka ifik*la muli ka council flat, yaba.
“Liars and plunderers in goverment would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn’t insist to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable” B.M
who give a F*** about the opinions of what your nick or is it peter, jack, john, or gives a s*** ’bout their names anyway
who give a F*** about the opinions of what your nick or is it peter, jack, john, or who gives a s*** ’bout their names anyway
Kitwe hospital is accussed of swapping the baby and in my view,they shouldnt be in the fore front to prove the case to suit them.
The best is to engage a neutral committee to handle this matter with impartiality as soon as possible in oder to safe guard the life of the child from rejection.
As things stand,there is a lot of incompetence,inexperience and lack of management skills in most government hospitals and this the biggest task that we have as a nation.
Awe nkani ya DNA tasting is serous imwe. Is there anything zambia proudly makes surely? Because even their Copper has to be taken to some country to be finnished off. Kapena Mosi lager chabe….Katwishi mwandini!
JUST LOOK AT THIS ROAD IN THE PICTURE. IT HAS NO MARKINGS AND PEDESTRIA AND CYCLE TRACKS. THIS IS IN REFERENCE TO THE ARTICLE: “We’ll protect children on the roads-Police”. BUT THEY WASTED PAINT TO PAINT PLINTHS BLACK AND WHITE INSTEAD OF MARKING THE ROAD. AND THIS IS COMMON IN ZAMBIA.
look at the baby care ful she look like her father.i hope am not the only one who noticed
the fore head and nose
Where is the baby and the father? Can’t see them here!
Kitwe Central Hospital is an interested party in this case, they can not be trusted to facilitate the DNA or handling samples even suggesting the Hospital in South Africa to do DNA tests.It happened in lusaka were they doctors suggested to do the DNA in south Africa and the results
came and added more pain and confused every thing.
If the mid-wife nurse who signed the Record Of Birth form at Buchi Clinic attests to the fact that she delivered a baby boy, then this couple haz a case. Hope this young mother and father don’t just have a problem with the boy/girl-child issue. Mistaken clinic/hospita baby swarp iz very highly unlikely. A deliberate one would need a lot of inside staff involvement and iz even more difficult to craft.
No way how would a baby’s clitoris be mistaken for a penis, how big was that? No possible, Something is wrong. I am disappointed that Kitwe Central which should be the largest hospital on the Copperbelt cannot conduct a DNA. You mean all mines Hospitals are finished??
Shameful indeed.
48 years after independence,you are still sending DNA samples to RSA.What a country….Shamefull.
#1 DNA tests are not simple but still I agree with you by now we should be doing DNA tests in Zambia.
Please, how many babies were born at Buchi Clinic and at KCH that day? The answer will try to help in resolving this issue. Idioots.
DNA testing is quite simple. Zambia can do it. I recently talked to an anti-corruption officer. Asking them to use DNA testing to resolve crimes. He said they go to RSA. Thinking about it, they like to go to RSA for hefty allowances. They have no plan to start DNA testing in Zambia. Private business can start DNA testing to resolve simple issues as partnenity testing, crime and other. Just find out who is going to pay.
The reagents and Machines used for DNA are very expensive bane.No wonder our government has overlooked the issue of having the service in our hospitals.
The Nkanza Laboratory is able to carry out DNA tests. It is just that the the local people believe in doing things in South Africa which is a shame. When are we going to have confidence in our own facilities?
Nkanza also sends samples to SA for DNA teat
Yes, I thought Nkanza Laboratory iz only able to collect samplez and fascilitate for the test in South Africa?
DNA testing in Zambia is definitely needed and I’m sure will be there soon though it should first start for forensic labs . The baby was born at Buchi and NOT at KCH , so that’s where( Buchi ) the mixup started from ! It was an error ( not forgivable ) by the attending staff !
For the sake of those who don’t know , an enlarged clitoris can exist , just as several other forms of ambiguous genitalia ( do internet search and you will find information on it ).
For the people who say they will never come back to Zambia , fine , stay where you are . But there are some good things happening here . You are not necessarily better off where you are ! Some of us are doing quite fine in Zambia with no intention of becoming economic refugees anywhere !
here we go again, always attacking people who have decided to live where they like. economic refugee, I would rather be than have my baby swapped in a candlelit. poor woman 9 months of hard labour, then the stupid confusion. She nearly lost her life, I cant imagine the pain and anguish and the fear of her not to be able to feel attached to her baby thinking the baby might not be hers. poor woman. I would rather live in exile if I could have my baby in one peaceful piece.
to you *****.s who are disputing facts as presented by dr mwewa,,,, have you heard of caster semenya, the south african runner who endured a nasty, wrongful accusaton of gender cheating because she was purported to have won the world 400 meters or something championship by pretending to be female. well she IS female but she most likely had a condition such as this baby has. i hope this has simplified the issue enough for people with goldfish brains to wrap around it!
?˜¨ peep ¨˜°º
׺°”˜`”°º× show ׺°”˜`”°º×
˜¨ peep ¨˜°º
׺°”˜`”°º×show ׺°”˜`”°º×
**== OBSERVATION: Health institutions of these days are filled with practitioners who so advanced in PR, hence neglecting the Human Biology and Medicine which is the core centre of thier profession.
JESUS CHRIST !!!!!!previously it was UTH, now it’s Buchi and KCH involved in scene of the same nature??. It luks l’ke Health Institutions have been hijacked by very, very, very and very wrong characters who are much advanced in PR rather than HUMAN BIOLOGY and MEDICINE which are the core centre of their decipline. May the government interven by weeding all the weeds in order to preserve the God given profession from going to ruin, thereby saving Human lives resulting into the reduction of the confussions in the country…………..
I wouldnt trust their DNA test. Let them take that baby themselves to Nkanza and have an independent DNA test conducted.
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