Bengaluru : An expert team will be formed to investigate the death of four babies at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Science Hospital and Research Centre (KIMS).

Vamadev, Deputy Health Officer, Government of Karnataka, told reporters on Thursday that the expert team will include doctors from the hospital, three from the health department, one doctor from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and one from a private hospital.

“The expert team will verify the documents, inspect the NICU, check the course of illness and other events. The report is likely to be submitted to the Government on Monday (July 13),” he said and added that the parents of the deceased babies had not filed any complaint. He refused to comment on whether the lack of post-mortem will have a bearing on the investigation.

Meanwhile, the hospital rubbished the allegations of medical negligence and infection that spread in the NICU. They said that all the four babies died on Wednesday of different reasons. “The most common causes for neonatal deaths are premature births, sepsis and intra-uterine growth restriction. While two to three neonatal deaths a month of infants admitted in the NICU is common, it is a coincidence that four babies died the same day,” hospital authorities claimed and added that the neonatal mortality rate is lower than the average.

The hospital claimed that after the death of four babies, the parents of eight other babies in the NICU went away from the hospital, against doctors’ advice. “We have been able to trace six babies, who were taken to other hospitals. Of these, the condition of only one baby is still a cause of concern. The other babies are doing fine,” said Madhu Shankar, KIMS Administrative Medical Officer, who added that four babies were still admitted in the NICU.