Aug 13, 2009, 8:32 GMT
Phnom Penh - A private health clinic in Phnom Penh could be sued after mistakenly declaring a premature baby dead on two occasions, local media reported.
The baby's father, Im Vannarith, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that he took his six-month pregnant wife to the Soriya Clinic on Monday after she complained of abdominal pains.
Two hours later she gave birth to a baby boy, named Samnang, but he was declared dead by the clinic owner shortly afterwards.
'We were devastated,' Im Vannarith said, adding that he went to see his son's body in another room. 'I saw my baby was still breathing, so I asked the doctor to send him to hospital.'
But while in a car on the way to a children's hospital in Phnom Penh, the clinic nurse - who was accompanying the baby, his father and grandmother - told the driver to turn around, saying Samnang had died.
On returning to the clinic, the baby was again laid out as if dead, but when his grandmother went to check on him she found he was breathing.
Im Vannarith then took his son to the Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital. Hospital director Dr Beat Richner told the German Press Agency dpa Thursday that the infant, whom he said was born at 26 weeks, was alive but remained in critical condition.
'We cannot be too hopeful, but we are doing everything we can,' Dr Richner said. 'This is not a good start for the child, who only weighs 900 grams. But we have saved children [previously who weighed] 900 grams.'
Dr Richner condemned private clinics which perform deliveries without the capacity to provide neonatal care, saying they are 'only interested in money.'
He said baby Samnang is the 1,680th child currently being treated in the wards of his charity's five children's hospitals. All are treated for free.
'This is daily life here [in Cambodia],' he said of the incident.
The Soriya Clinic denied wrongdoing and told the Post that it had tried its best to help after the baby stopped breathing.
Im Vannarith said he and his lawyer are contemplating legal action.
Your Talkback on this Story