Five officials fired over baby deaths

Authorities have sacked five officials in a Tianjin hospital where five newborns died from unsanitary conditions in the maternity ward, health officials said yesterday.

The affected infants had received medical treatment in tainted incubators at the Jixian county maternal and childcare service center in Tianjin, Ministry of Health (MOH) officials confirmed. They did not provide details of the five who were fired.

The incubators in the center were "seriously contaminated and were not completely sterilized", while the disinfectant applied in the hospital failed to meet health standards and medical staff failed to carry out proper infection prevention measures, one of the MOH officials said.