Bujumbura : a scandal at the King Khaled University Hospital maternity ward after two newborns are switched

SOS Médias Burundi

Bujumbura, October 30, 2025 – A tragic incident occurred on Tuesday, October 28, at the King Khaled Hospital in Bujumbura, the commercial capital of Burundi. Two women who had come to breastfeed their babies in the neonatal unit were left in shock. Their children had been mistakenly switched, and the death of one of them revealed the truth.

According to several witnesses, the two infants—of different sexes—had been mistakenly identified after a nurse mixed up the records. It was the prenatal ultrasounds performed before the births that allowed the mothers to discover the terrible mix-up.

“A shock, yes, a shock… To have a baby, breastfeed for two days, then learn that it’s not yours, and that yours is dead,” testifies a patient hospitalized in the same ward.

Many are outraged by the practices observed at the maternity ward of this public hospital. This week’s scandal seems to be the last straw for many patients.

Langwida, from Kirundo in northern Burundi, recounts a painful experience she had a few months ago :

“It was my first time. I didn’t know anyone at the hospital. My baby may have had low blood sugar, but the nurse didn’t intervene in time. In the morning, I was told he had died.” “I will never forget that day.”

Faced with these repeated tragedies, voices are rising to demand greater rigor and humanity in the care of women and newborns.

“Our doctors, and especially those who assist women during childbirth, should show more compassion. At King Khaled Hospital, it’s truly deplorable. The maternity staff need to pull themselves together,” says a relative of a victim.

In a country where motherhood should be synonymous with joy, these tragic errors serve as a stark reminder that at King Khaled Hospital, the lives of newborns all too often hang by a thread.