A private hospital will soon introduce a system aimed at preventing the swapping of newborn babies.
Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley is setting up an electronic system in its obstetrics department that matches babies' identification with their mothers' tags.
The hospital said the system had been planned for several years and was not a response to last month's blunder at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in which two babies were with the wrong mothers for more than 30 hours until one of the women discovered the mistake.
The new system was part of the Sanatorium's HK$800 million extension programme, which has added 20 floors to one of its buildings and will increase the number of beds from 434 to 527, deputy medical superintendent Dr Joseph Chan Woon-tong said yesterday.
Information on the mothers and babies is contained in the bracelets they wear. If a mother touches her own baby, music plays on a machine. If she picks up the wrong one, the machine will issue warning signals.
If a baby crosses a preset boundary, the alarm will sound. The system will go into operation in November.