State Duma: No infections in nine newborn deaths

A federal commission did not find any violations of delivery protocols or traces of dangerous infections in the Novokuznetsk perinatal center. The mass mortality was due to the condition of the children, said Sergei Leonov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, on Wednesday, January 21, in an interview with RBC.

According to the deputy, the perinatal center meets all requirements and norms, all rules were followed there, but various tragedies occur in all spheres, including in medicine, due to a confluence of circumstances.

“I would not say that something broke in the system, a really very tragic case occurred. (…) If these nine deaths were spread out over a year, they would not have caused such a reaction — this fits within medical statistics,” said Leonov.

He confirmed information previously reported by NGS42 sources that the children had severe pathologies and diseases, as well as serious underweight. All fatal cases occurred in the resuscitation unit, some infants stayed there for more than a month.

Leonov said that no serious infection was detected. The broadcast also clarified that women from across the region with complicated pregnancies were brought to the maternity hospital.

The deputy said that medical institutions in the region, which have been massively closing in Kuzbass in recent years, are within the responsibility of local authorities, such decisions are made independently by the head of the regional Ministry of Health.

Earlier, NGS42 reported that since 2018 in Kuzbass, the number of hospitals, maternity hospitals, and doctors has sharply decreased, as part of so-called optimizations initiated by the region«s health ministers.

The day before, NGS42 wrote that the federal commission left Novokuznetsk last week without announcing any results.
All about the tragedy in the Novokuznetsk maternity hospital we are collecting in a separate story.