A COUPLE received a shock when their baby girl was allegedly switched with a baby boy while receiving treatment at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, recently.
What was more surprising was that both babies who were switched were found to be wearing the name tags of the baby girl's mother.
Recounting the incident, the baby's father, Muhammad Harraz Haziq, 24, told Harian Metro that it began when his wife safely gave birth to their daughter on April 7 before the baby was sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
According to him, their baby was supposed to be discharged on April 8, but had to be detained in the ward after being confirmed to have jaundice (yellow fever).
"On the night of April 8, the nurse came to take our baby for a blood test. At about 5 am the next morning, the nurse returned the baby and placed it in the incubator.
"However, at 6 am, my wife began to notice something was wrong and was shocked to find that the baby she had been given was a boy, not our daughter," he told Harian Metro.
Muhammad Harraz claimed that when he raised the issue with the nurse on duty, they seemed to doubt his statement and disputed the actual gender of his child.
"They (the nurses) disputed and asked me again, is it true that my child is a girl? Luckily, I acted early by taking a photo of the birth confirmation form when my wife had just given birth as evidence.
"My daughter was finally found on the same day (April 9). However, what surprised me the most was how the babies could both have my wife's name tag," he asked.
Disappointed by the incident, which was described as a very serious negligence, the young father tried to get further explanation from the medical team involved, but claimed that each seemed to be trying to avoid it.
In fact, his efforts to contact the doctor in charge to seek enlightenment also met with a dead end.
Following the hospital's failure to provide a convincing answer, Muhammad Harraz lodged a police report regarding the incident on April 10 for further action.
"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," he said. – May 14, 2026
