DNA tests conducted at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo have proved that a woman who alleged that Gweru Provincial Hospital gave her a wrong baby after birth is in fact the mother of the child nurses handed to her.
Two months ago, Phyllis Jakazi of Highlands Farm in Gweru and her relatives claimed the health institution’s staff gave her a baby girl when she had given birth to a boy, resulting in her breastfeeding someone’s child.
Jakazi delivered prematurely. DNA tests conducted on the 18-year-old mother and her baby concluded that she was the baby’s mother.
“The alleged mother Phyllis Jakazi cannot be excluded as the biological mother of the child, Baby Phyllis Jakazi. Blood ratio in 99,9 percent,” reads part of the results.
Gweru Provincial Hospital medical superintendent Dr Fabian Mashingaidze said the institution conducted the tests early this month and the results were confirmed last week.
He said the tests had proved that Jakazi was the biological mother of the child.
“The DNA tests were conducted as per the court order and the results which came out on May 19 confirmed that the child was hers,” he said.
Dr Mashingaidze had earlier said the child was born female but on the record and name tag, a nurse made a mistake and wrote male.
“The mistake was on the name tag and that has created doubt in the parents who suspected that they could have been given a wrong baby,” he said.