Deaths of newborns: Ad-din now refuses to release its internal probe report
Authorities of Ad-din Medical College Hospital have backtracked from their decision to make public the findings of an internal investigation into the unusual deaths of six newborns on May 27.
The report will now be submitted to the health ministry instead, an official said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Earlier, the hospital authorities said they had completed their internal probe and would make the report public at a press conference this evening. Several media outlets reported the announcement.
Contacted at 2:30pm, Tariqul Islam Mukul, director of HR and Company Affairs at Ad-din Foundation, which runs the hospital, told The Daily Star that they would not make the report public but would instead submit it to the health ministry as a government committee is still investigating the matter.
He said a five-member committee, led by Prof Atiqur Rahman, a urologist and adviser to the foundation, had completed its investigation into the deaths of the six newborns and submitted its report to the authorities.
Replying to a question, he said they would hand over the report to the health ministry either today or tomorrow.
However, he declined to share the findings of the committee.
The 700-bed hospital came under the spotlight after six babies, aged between one and three days, died within a few hours after their conditions deteriorated in the post-operative room early on Wednesday.
The exact cause of the deaths could not be confirmed immediately, although officials at the health directorate suspect that a technical failure in the hospital's post-operative room may have caused the tragedy.
The health ministry formed a probe committee, which is scheduled to submit its report on Saturday but its deadline was extended to June 3.
While the investigation was under way, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain visited the hospital yesterday and found a bread factory on top floor of one of its building attached to the hospital.
The minister said there should not be a bakery factory there and that additional experts would be sent to examine the factory as part of the investigation.
"We will test the stagnant water and examine whether any substance from the bread factory, or any gas that could be beyond the babies' tolerance level, is being emitted. Since we detected an odour inside the room, we will investigate it thoroughly," he told reporters yesterday.
After the minister left the hospital, an altercation broke out between the hospital staff and on-duty media personnel over access to the hospital. At one stage, a group of staffs of the hospital chased some journalists from the premises.
In a press release issued today, the hospital authorities expressed regret over the incident and sought forgiveness.
However, authorities said investigations into the deaths are still under way.
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