Dickensian Drama for Vietnamese Girls Switched at Birth
June 2, 1999 - 0:0
TEHRAN The families of two girls accidentally switched at birth in a Vietnamese hospital have discovered they have been living with the wrong children for the past eight years, DPA quoted the state press and one of the mothers on Tuesday as saying. The two girls, whose name tags were mistakenly swapped by a nurse in a hospital incubation department back in 1991, were returned to their biological parents after one of the mothers initiated an investigation, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
Weekend press reports said the eight-year-old didn't care which parents they stayed with as they now felt close to both mothers and fathers. But Nguyen Thi Thanh, the mother who for years harboured doubts about the identity of her "daughter", said a far more complicated drama has developed because she is relatively wealthy while the family which raised her biological daughter is dirt poor.
Thanh, who discovered the mistake recently when she was in a nearby commune and was startled to see a child who looked just like her, was hesitant to send the daughter she raised to an impoverished household and offered to raise both girls, she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA. The other family has agreed, and the two girls are to be raised as sisters, said Thanh, a successful timber trader.
"I am happy to have my real child back again but my happiness is not complete because the kids are now envious of each other," she said, explaining that the child she raised feels sidelined by the attention bestowed upon the new arrival. The girls often fight over clothing and dolls and "don't consider themselves sisters", Thanh said. The Dickensian Drama, which is being played out in the southern Dong Nai province just north of Ho Chi Minh city, is compounded by Vietnam's lack of positive identification techniques.
DNA testing is not available in Vietnam and the test that was performed is not foolproof, a western doctor in Hanoi said. But Thanh said family and friends who were shown the two girls immediately concluded the children belonged to the other's parents.
Weekend press reports said the eight-year-old didn't care which parents they stayed with as they now felt close to both mothers and fathers. But Nguyen Thi Thanh, the mother who for years harboured doubts about the identity of her "daughter", said a far more complicated drama has developed because she is relatively wealthy while the family which raised her biological daughter is dirt poor.
Thanh, who discovered the mistake recently when she was in a nearby commune and was startled to see a child who looked just like her, was hesitant to send the daughter she raised to an impoverished household and offered to raise both girls, she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA. The other family has agreed, and the two girls are to be raised as sisters, said Thanh, a successful timber trader.
"I am happy to have my real child back again but my happiness is not complete because the kids are now envious of each other," she said, explaining that the child she raised feels sidelined by the attention bestowed upon the new arrival. The girls often fight over clothing and dolls and "don't consider themselves sisters", Thanh said. The Dickensian Drama, which is being played out in the southern Dong Nai province just north of Ho Chi Minh city, is compounded by Vietnam's lack of positive identification techniques.
DNA testing is not available in Vietnam and the test that was performed is not foolproof, a western doctor in Hanoi said. But Thanh said family and friends who were shown the two girls immediately concluded the children belonged to the other's parents.