Turkish Baby Deaths By Infections Increases, 13 Die Over the Weekend
An infection spread by IV treatment has caused the deaths of 13 premature babies during the weekend at a hospital in Western Turkey. This brings the number of deaths of Turkish newborns in the past several months to 40. Turkey’s infant mortality rate has been a constant issue in the country, as the mortality rate was 23.66 in 1,000 in 2005, compared to that of neighboring Greece, where 3.8 newborns out of 1,000 died during the same year.
After the 13 deaths, the hospital was placed under quarantine and currently no new babies are being admitted. Several of the bodies are being exhumed, as part of the investigation to discover the cause of the deaths. While the head of the health department does not believe the reason to be neglect of the babies, the hospital, as well as other units where similar incidents occurred during the last few months, are still being investigated.
While smaller hospitals generally do not have the capabilities to treat premature babies, the larger hospitals, health union workers state, are often understaffed and ill-equipped to take on the premature as well. The issue is most likely one that will be given a lot of attention by the government, due to the increasing tragedies, and hopefully after a thorough investigation, it will become clearer where to go from here.
Adam Hazzout
