VietNamNet Bridge - Within 20 hours, three infants died at the medical center of Phuoc Son district in the central province of Quang Nam. Doctors said that the incidents were only a coincidence.

The incidents occurred on September 4 and 5. At 10.20am on the day, Mrs. Ho Thi Pho was examined at the center and diagnosed to reach the time of labor and to have an increase in blood pressure. The pregnant woman then had a fever and gave birth to a boy at 8.45pm, but the baby died 45 minutes later.

At 10pm, another woman named Ho Thi Ip, 17, began labor at the center. She gave birth to a boy at about 12am weighing 2.8 kg. At 6 am on September 5, the baby had trouble breathing and died at 8am.

Also on the night of September 4, the center received another 17-year-old woman named Ho Thi Tieu Diep. The pregnant woman was diagnosed with an unexplained fever.

Diep gave birth to a boy weighing 1.6 kg who was not breathing, did not cry and did not have a heart rate. The baby died at 3.45pm on September 5.

After the incidents, the center convened an expert council to find the causes of the deaths and concluded that the incidents were "just a coincidence". The baby of Mrs. Ho Thi Pho was dead due to the mother’s illness. The son of Mrs. Ho Thi Ip died choking on breast milk. In the case of Mrs. Ho Thi Tieu Diep, doctors said the baby died because it was premature, and may have had gastrointestinal malformations.

The three incidents occurred during the tour of duty of Dr. Tran Thi Xuan and two midwives.

On September 11 the Ministry of Health asked the Department of Health of Quang Nam Province to investigate the cases and report the results back before September 16.

Le Ha