Baby-swapping mothers held at Chennai hospital

CHENNAI: In a curious case of mutual consent, two women at a government maternity hospital in Egmore tried to swap their newborn babies, but got caught in the act. One of them, who already had two daughters, wanted a male child, while the other, who had a son, wanted a girl. They had struck a deal to swap infants. But while walking out with the infant, one of the women was stopped by an ambulance driver. On police interrogation, both women confessed they had planned the whole thing.

S Thangam (34), a native of Alandur, was rushing out of the hospital with a baby boy at 7 am on Friday when ambulance driver Muthalagan stopped her on suspicion and reported her to the duty nurse. Asked for an exit pass with details of her discharge, Thangam fumbled. Around the same time, the staff heard another woman from the post-operative ward screaming that her newborn boy was missing.

Thangam was handed over to the police. The mother of the newborn boy, B Ammu (30), a native of Thiruvallur, was also summoned. On questioning, Ammu confessed that the exchange was carried out with mutual consent and that she had raised an alarm to avoid blame after learning that hospital authorities had busted their plan.

Thangam told cops that after raising two girls, she longed for a boy, and was depressed to find that her newborn too was a girl.