Two newborn babies at Queen Elizabeth Hospital were mistakenly swapped by medical staff for more than 30 hours until one of the Hong Kong mothers spotted the blunder, the Hospital Authority confirmed last night.
The parents, who had already begun to bond with the wrong babies, are receiving psychological counselling. The hospital's statement on the rare blunder was issued at 10.08pm yesterday, more than a week after the incident occurred on August 8.
At about 1pm on that day a mother at the hospital discovered that the identification bracelet of her newborn baby girl was missing from the baby's wrist. Instead, she found a bracelet belonging to another baby girl in the baby's cot. The two babies were born early on August 7 and the births were about 35 minutes apart. The mothers and the babies were still at the hospital when the incident was spotted.
A hospital spokesman said last night that the babies were mistakenly swapped for more than 30 hours. She said the parents had accepted the hospital management's apology.
The hospital has provided psychological counselling for them, saying that the incident could have traumatised the two first-time mothers.
The hospital's statement said it was highly concerned about the 'unusual' incident and had launched an investigation.
'Based on the preliminary investigation conducted by the ward staff, and the footprints of the two babies recorded upon birth, it was believed that the identities of the two babies had been exchanged,' it said.