KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Health Department is investigating a family’s claim that a newborn died recently because of carelessness at a hospital here.

       State Health director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin said the department was aware of viral messages on social media and had also received complaints from the family involved.

       “We are investigating,” she said briefly when asked about it on Tuesday (June 21).

       She said the department has also informed the affected family about a probe on staff of the hospital.

       In the viral message posted by the baby’s aunt on Facebook, her sister – the child’s mother – was allegedly overdue but the medical staff on duty just asked her to "suppress" her contractions.

       “You guys just gave her some medications and asked her to hold her contractions, saying that was normal as it was her first birth,” she said.

       She claimed that her sister tried fighting her contractions for 14 hours until she could not stand the pain and the doctors then allegedly gave her painkillers.

       The woman claimed that her sister had to suffer in pain for a while longer before someone came to check on the baby, only to find that its heartbeat had dropped tremendously.

       “That was when an emergency caesarean section was performed. She woke up to find her baby dead,” she said.

       She claimed that none of the family knew about the C-section, and that she found it ridiculous that the nurses told them they tried calling the husband six times but could not reach him.

       “Our hearts are broken. You all played with the life of someone. The hospital is supposed to be responsible but you were careless,” she said.