Authorities in Russia have detained the chief doctor and acting head of the intensive care unit at a Siberian maternity hospital after nine newborns died in just a few days earlier this month, investigators said Wednesday.
The deaths have sparked widespread shock and anger in Russia, where standards of healthcare can vary drastically - from top-notch in large research hospitals to poor in some remote regional medical centers.
According to investigators, the babies, born between December 1 and January 12, all died during the long Russian New Year holiday at Hospital No. 1 in Novokuznetsk, a city of half a million people in southern Siberia.
So far, it has not been officially announced why the newborns died.
The Russian State Investigative Committee announced that the doctors were detained on suspicion of negligence and causing death by negligence.
"The chief physician and the head of the intensive care unit have been detained as part of a criminal case related to the deaths of babies in Novokuznetsk," Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Committee, said in a statement.
She said the babies died "as a result of the suspects' inadequate performance of their official and professional duties in organizing and providing medical care."
The video, released by investigators, shows police escorting a man in handcuffs, while a health worker answers questions from investigators.
The newspaper "Argumenti i Fakti" reported that the hospital has a bad reputation and that between August and November last year it received at least five warnings from health authorities.
Other Russian media outlets reported personal accounts from some women who gave birth at the hospital. One woman said her baby's arm was torn off during delivery and the child died. Another said a doctor cursed at her. Inspections also revealed a shortage of medications for certain ailments.
Professor Pavel Vorobyov, a prominent Russian doctor, wondered why the alarm was not raised earlier.
"After the first death, they (doctors and nurses) should have sounded the alarm and started doing something... when nine people have died and everyone is silent, something is very strange," "Arguments and Facts" quoted him as saying.
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