A newborn baby mistakenly declared dead at New Delhi's Max Healthcare hospital, who awoke on the way to his funeral, has died, it was reported on Wednesday. India's health ministry said an investigation of the incident will be completed within days. Image courtesy of Max Healthcare

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A baby boy born 22 weeks premature in India who was presumed dead and found alive on the way to his funeral has died, nursing home officials said.

Max Healthcare, an upscale New Delhi hospital where twins were believed stillborn, fired two of its doctors after the incident, and Health Minister Satyender Jain said on Wednesday that an investigation of the incident would be completed within two days. The babies were delivered on Nov. 30. One, a girl, was stillborn.


Several hours after the babies' bodies were given to their families for burial, however, their parents noticed one was still moving.

"They handed us both bodies wrapped like a courier package from the back door. After we traveled ... we felt a movement in one," said the babies' grandfather. "We ripped it open, found bits of plastic and the baby [boy] inside, breathing."

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The newborn was taken to another hospital and put on an incubator to help him breathe, officials said. He died at a nursing home in Pitampura, a neighborhood in northwest New Delhi, Indian Express reported on Wednesday.

Jain said that Max Healthcare hospital was sent a notice, prior to the twins' birth, for alleged violations of emergency medical services norms. When asked why no one from the family received any communication from the hospital after the baby was found alive, Jain responded, "There are certain legalities involved but we [the ministry] responded immediately and took action."

On Saturday, Jain said the hospital's license to practice could be revoked if the investigation finds it guilty of medical negligence.

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