The Directorate General of Health Services has said the authorities of Ad-din Medical College Hospital bear “responsibility” for the deaths of six newborns at the Dhaka facility, but cautioned against pre-empting the findings of an inquiry that will submit its report on Saturday.

The six deaths occurred in the hospital’s post-operative ward on Wednesday morning, triggering a probe and a police case. Dr Zahid Raihan, additional director general (administration) of the Health Directorate, told Bonik Barta on Friday that an on-site inspection immediately after the incident had found infrastructure deficiencies in the post-operative ward and other shortcomings. “The ward has been shut since,” he added.

A case alleging the infants died because of negligence has been filed at Ramna police station, while several news outlets reported that the hospital’s own “negligence” was responsible.

Asked about the media reports, Dr Raihan said a television channel had sought his comment. “Some news reports said there was ‘serious negligence’ — I later gave another statement,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a direct misquote, but it wasn’t presented the way I said it.”

He said it would not be appropriate to claim “serious negligence” before the high-level investigation committee’s report is received.

“Whether there was any deficiency or how much responsibility they bear — we will hold a press conference and present everything once the report is in hand,” he added.

On Wednesday, Professor Pravath Chandra Biswas, the director general of the DGHS, told reporters after inspecting the hospital in Dhaka’s Mogbazar area that the ward had a suffocating atmosphere and no ventilation once its air conditioning was switched off.

“We found a suffocating environment in that room — whether from an AC complication or any other cause,” he said. “When the AC was off, there was no ventilation. That was the situation in which we lost the six children.”

The infants, aged between one and three days, had been transferred from the post-operative ward to the neonatal intensive care unit after their conditions deteriorated. Eleven mothers who were in the same ward were unharmed.

An inquiry panel, headed by a joint secretary from the health ministry and including two officials from the health directorate, had been instructed to determine whether management lapses or negligence contributed to the deaths. Its final report is due Saturday.

Meanwhile, a statement released by the hospital said that at about 2 am on Wednesday, mothers in the second-floor ward asked nurses to turn off the air conditioning. Nurses complied, but the AC was switched back on around 3 am. At roughly 4 am, one newborn began crying abnormally and was rushed to the NICU; the other five were taken there soon afterwards. The first death was recorded at 6 am, and the remaining five died between 6 am and 9 am. Three nurses were on duty in the ward overnight.