The Dhaka Medical College authorities today said it is their failure they could not protect a newborn who was declared dead by the authorities of the hospital on Friday but was later found alive right before the burial.

“It is a failure of our organisation…Our doctors and nurses should have protected the baby. We somehow missed it,” said DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin.

“…But the probe committee did not find that this happened due to their negligence. They failed to diagnose the baby clinically,” Nasir said in reply to a query.

He was talking to reporters at his office on the findings of a report that a four-member probe committee submitted to him today.

The director also said the on-duty doctors and nurses were very diligent in their efforts to save both the baby and the mother when they were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition and what happened on that day was unintentional. The baby did not show signs of life for a long time which is unusual, he added.

At the beginning of the press briefing, he, said a writ petition was pending with the High Court and they felt further inquiry is needed in this regard.

Brigadier General Nasir said the probe committee made some recommendations to avoid recurrence of such incidents and they will comply with those recommendations.

Dr Manisha Banerjee, head of neonatology department and head of the probe committee said the baby’s condition is still critical. “It is a miracle that the baby is still alive. It will be another miracle if she survives. We are trying our level best,” she said.

Read more: Newborn back from dead in critical state