Story By: Maja Mishevksa, Sub Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

A premature baby boy has died after spending 10 hours in the morgue of a hospital where it was allegedly taken twice by doctors who mistakenly thought he was dead.

The baby boy was born on Friday in Carlos Lanfranco La Hoz Hospital in Lima, Peru hours after a second alleged blunder in which medics previously told the woman that her contractions were normal and sent her home.

The grandmother of the newborn reported to local media that the baby was declared dead twice by doctors at the hospital and was taken to the hospital’s morgue both times.

She says the second time a cleaning lady heard a baby crying and alerted the authorities, including a prosecutor who was in the morgue for the removal of another body and who then found the baby alive.

The grandmother, who has not been named in reports, said: “The cleaning woman heard a small noise, and at around 6.30 am, the prosecutor was shocked after seeing the baby was crying and still alive”.

The baby was immediately taken to the National Institute of Health of Children, in the district of San Borja, where doctors tried to save his life, but they could not save him.

The Superintendent of Health, Carlos Acosta, confirmed that the baby had been taken to the morgue in the hospital twice.

He said: “The boy arrived at the morgue and he spent some time there, until it was noticed that he was still alive, he was taken to the paediatric area and it was confirmed again that he had died, and he was again taken to the morgue. He spent the rest of the night there until the prosecutor arrived for another body that they had to take up and noticed the case.”

He said that an investigation had been launched, saying the incident may have been caused by a mistake while following protocols or the negligence of the doctor attending the baby.

Acosta added that there will be administrative and judicial sanctions and said that the director had opened “disciplinary administrative process against the people involved in the case”.

Laura Argomedo, 24, the mother of the baby, asked for justice and a strong sanction for those who were responsible for the death of the baby, who was born after 26 weeks of pregnancy.

She said: “Do not let them tell you that your baby is dead, see if your baby is dead before it is taken to the morgue, that is how a life can be saved.”

She commented that more than one doctor checked the baby who was declared dead twice. The mourning mother claimed that she had initially been sent away from the hospital with contractions, saying: “When the contractions started, I went to the hospital and I was forced to go back home saying that it was nothing, that it was normal to have the contractions.”

It is unclear if any arrests have been made. Reports state the mother and father are receiving psychological help.

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