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Five hospital officials have been sacked for their lack of action in containing infections in at the Jixian County Maternal & Child Care Service Center, the largest hospital of its kind in the Jixian county of Tianjin, northern China. The poor hygiene lead to the deaths late last month of five newborn babies, who developed breathing difficulties and died four days later. A sixth was still undergoing treatment as this news item was being prepared.
 
The People’s Daily reports that the deaths drew attention to hygiene conditions at the hospital, which has been described by some as being "filthy", and led to the sacking of the hospital's president, vice president, head of the medical department, head of the maternity ward, and the charge nurse of the maternity ward.

Top ranking officials from the Ministry of Health, the Tianjin municipal committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Tianjin Municipal Government say their initial investigations revealed that the deaths were caused by a hospital-acquired infection of the Enterobacter cloacae bacterium.

The investigation also found that the management of the rooms where the newborns were kept was in chaos, with wards badly laid out and workflow not in line with hygiene demands.