A number of Dutch women were mistakenly injected with the wrong sperm.

A Dutch medical center has launched an investigation after discovering that the eggs of 26 women were mistakenly injected with the wrong sperm at an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic.

A “procedural error” occurred between mid-April 2015 and mid-November 2016, the University Medical Center (UMC) in Utrecht confirmed.

Illustration photo: BBC.

"During the fertilization process, sperm from one couple undergoing treatment may have been injected into the eggs of 26 other couples," the Guardian quoted a UMC statement as saying.

"Therefore, it is possible that the egg was fertilized by sperm from someone other than the intended father." Although the chance of a mix-up is very small, the possibility "cannot be ruled out," the center said.

Half of the 26 women receiving infertility treatment at UMC have become pregnant or given birth. The center has notified the couples about this.

Mistakes in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures are not uncommon. In 2012, a Singaporean mother sued a medical center for negligence, mistakenly using her husband's sperm with that of a stranger.

In 2010, a Chinese woman also gave birth to a child whose skin and hair color were completely different from that of her husband, who was of Caucasian descent.

According to Vietnamnet