RIYADH, 3 April 2003 — The death and mass funeral of 75 new-born babies in Riyadh could be an indication that there is a lack of adequate incubators in some government hospitals.
The mass funeral for the new-born babies this week created outrage in the capital, and speculation is rife on the cause of deaths on such a large scale.
However, these deaths did not take place on the same day — as was reported in the Arabic language media — but over a four-day period, Ibrahim Al-Haider, director of public relations at the Ministry of Health, told Arab News yesterday.
He said the babies had died over a period of time, but were brought for funeral prayers on the same day at Al-Rajhi Mosque.
“They did not die as a result of any medical errors,” he insisted. “Hospitals either hand over such infants to their parents for burial after funeral prayers or ask the municipality’s service department to do so after obtaining the parents’ permission.”
He added that the municipality handed over the bodies of 22 infants to the mosque for washing and funeral prayers, in addition to 53 other children for whom funeral prayers were conducted on Saturday and Sunday.
When no one comes forward to perform the last rites for their children, Al-Haidar said, the municipality steps in with the parents’ permission in order to relieve pressure on the hospital freezers.
This, he explained, was the main reason for the mass funeral.
