A baby who was declared dead in Naypyidaw General Hospital was later found to be alive after a free funeral service volunteer discovered her wrapped in a plastic bag in a mortuary.
Shwe Zin Phyo was admitted to the hospital in Pokebathiri Township on June 25 and told by medical staff that her nearly six-week premature baby showed no vital signs when she was born at 5.20am on June 27, according to the Daily Eleven.
Four hours and 40 minutes later, when Thaba Thukha free funeral service’s chairperson U Thein Htaik Oo went to the hospital mortuary to prepare her funeral, he discovered she was still alive, wrapped in a plastic bag. The baby was placed in an incubator but died four days later.
“I didn’t know what happened,” Shwe Zin Phyo told Daily Eleven. “What I know was that, three days after giving birth, I was notified that my baby was alive and being kept in an incubator. I received news that she died the next day. My husband and I arranged a funeral after bringing her body back.”
She added she will not be taking legal action over the death of her child.
Thein Htaik Oo wrote a letter of complaint on the hospital staff’s negligence to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on July 13, which prompted the Myanmar-UN run committee to investigate the death, said one of its members.
Dr Thida Soe, acting superintendent of the hospital, told Daily Eleven she reported the case to her superiors when she became aware of it. She also apologised to the patron head monk of the funeral service, according to the news outlet.
