A couple in Kuala Lumpur found out on April 9 that their newborn daughter, born April 7, had been mistakenly swapped with a baby boy during neonatal care at the hospital [1, 2]. Both babies wore name tags bearing the girl's mother’s information, which contributed to the mix-up [1, 2].
The baby girl was scheduled for discharge on April 8 but remained hospitalized due to jaundice and underwent a blood test that night [1, 2]. The following morning, the parents noticed the baby given to them was a boy, not their daughter [1, 2]. They later located their biological daughter at the hospital that same day [1, 2].
The child's father, 24-year-old Muhammad Harraz Haziq, filed a police report on April 10 after the hospital failed to provide a satisfactory explanation. He said, "I came forward with this because I want a transparent explanation from the hospital management. How can such negligence in standard operating procedures (SOP) occur in a government hospital? I don't want this kind of traumatic thing to happen to other parents out there" [2].
The hospital has confirmed that it is taking the incident seriously and launched an internal investigation [1]. They also stated there was no impact on the babies’ feeding or medical treatment during the error [1].
The hospital continues to investigate the circumstances that allowed two newborns with identical name tags to be swapped, seeking to prevent any repeat of the incident.
