Where is the newly born boy?

New parents were handed over a female child on Monday, eight days after the couple had a boy at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

Hospital sources said Papiya Akter, 22, wife of Monwar Hossain, was admitted to the Labour Ward of the hospital on December 10. She gave birth to their first child that very evening.

The child was identified as male and was tagged, said Laxmi Narayan Majumder, deputy director of MMCH. The child was then kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital's Neonatal Ward due to respiratory complications, she added.

Papiya had been told before that she had a boy and the paperwork at the hospital also say that the child was male. When the hospital staffers gave the parents a girl child, they protested, said sources.

Hospital officials spoke to the mother and the hospital staffers at the spot. The staffers denied any wrongdoing.

Mustafizur Rahman, administrative officer of the hospital, lodged a missing person's case on Monday morning with Mymensingh Kotwali Police Station accusing unidentified people of abducting the male child.

The deputy director of the hospital said the hospital authorities have contacted the ministry concerned about the matter seeking advice.

“Proper investigation is needed to find the facts. Whether it is a job of an organised gang or merely a mistake,” said Laxmi Narayan.

Prof Anwar Hossain, head of the Neonatal Ward, said that in his 30-year-long career, he had never faced an incident such as this.

“We are seriously concerned … we either made a grave mistake in identifying the sex of the baby or while writing the information down. The female child is still in the ICU, and will need a DNA test to prove the claim of the parents,” said the doctor.