A hospital in northwest China was sentenced Tuesday to pay 300,000 yuan (43,700 US dollars) in compensation to two families for accidentally swapping their sons 16 years ago.

The compensation includes about 100,000 yuan for mental harm to the six plaintiffs, especially the two children, Lan Zhou Morning Post reports.

However, the district court in Baiyin, Gansu Province turned down a request by the plaintiffs asking the hospital to publicly apologize in the media since the case had been covered by the local press.

Sixteen years ago, the two new-born boys were handed to the wrong families. As they grew up, one father's doubts lead him to take a DNA paternity test in 2007 which proved he wasn't the father of the boy.

The two families asked for a compensation of 935,000 yuan when they sued the hospital earlier this year.

(CRI July 2, 2008)