Zinhle Mapumulo

Zinhle Mapumulo

The two women entangled in a tragic baby mix-up at Alexandra Clinic were being counselled yesterday. This after one of the babies died before DNA results were made available.

The two women, both from Alexandra in Johannesburg gave birth to baby girls at the clinic on Sunday. Nurses forgot to strap their tiny wrists with identification tags, leading to the mix-up.

Nurses on the night shift discovered that the two babies did not have their parents' names strapped to their wrists. Blood samples were taken from both mothers and babies on Monday to enable the clinic to conduct DNA tests to draw a match.

The mothers were told to both take a baby home until the results ascertained their identities.

Dr Muvili Simba, the chief operations officer at the clinic, said they finally managed to trace the second mother yesterday.

"We visited her at home with a social worker and a doctor. She was informed about the death of the other baby. The social worker counselled her and explained what to expect when the DNA results come back," he said.

"She was shocked to learn that the other baby had died. But she was even more determined to find out if the little girl was hers or not," said Simba.

Meanwhile, the other mother, Lebo Nkadimeng, 23, is also holding her thumbs that the surviving child is hers.

The baby that Nkadimeng took home died a day after being released from the clinic. Now, she is torn between the grief of losing a child and explaining to the other woman how the child died.