ANKARA - Turkish authorities launched an investigation Monday after 13 newborn babies died in 24 hours at a state hospital in the western city of Izmir, officials and media reports said.
The babies, all of whom were prematurely born and underdeveloped, died at the newborn unit of Tepecik hospital on Saturday and Sunday, triggering suspicions that an infection was to blame.
A team of four experts specializing in infections and newborn care begun an inspection at the ward on Monday and were expected to reach a conclusion in a few days time, Mehmet Ozkan, the head of the local health directorate, said in a televised news conference.
"At this point, we cannot say there is an infection... but let us wait for the report of the scientific team," he said, ruling out any negligence on the part of the hospital.
Nejat Aksu, the chief doctor at the unit, said that his staff were treating premature babies with serious health problems, such as brain haemorrhages, heart problems and severe intestinal pathologies.
"We believe the deaths were caused by the illnesses that the babies already had," he said.
The local prosecutor's office is also looking into the deaths.
On Monday it ordered that five of the babies, who had already been interred before officials became suspicious, be exhumed for an autopsy, the Anatolia news agency said.
The bodies of the remaining babies were already at the local coroner's office, it added.
In remarks published in the mass-circulation Sabah newspaper, the hospital's chief physican suggested that high mortality in such a short time led to suspicions of an infection.
"Under normal conditions, we lose five or six babies in three days and less than 20 in a month," Professor Gazi Yigitbasi said.
The incident at Tepecik hospital is the latest in a string of deaths in recent years that have raised questions over standards in newborn units.
In August, a state hospital in capital Ankara reported that 27 newborn babies had died over a 15-day period.
The hospital said at the time the deaths were caused by a variety of reasons, including hypertension, heart failure and complications at birth.
Trade union officials however blamed them on an infection triggered by poor sanitary conditions.
In 2005, eight premature babies died of a bacterial infection in a hospital in the northwestern city of Edirne, and an infection claimed the lives of seven babies at a newborn unit in the central city of Kayseri.