In a shocking incident from New Delhi, a leading private hospital declared a newborn dead while the baby still alive.

The hospital - Shalimar Bagh's Max Super Speciality Hospital - has admitted to the bone-chilling incident, saying it is "shaken and concerned" by the "rare incident".

The incident took place on November 30 after a 20-year-old woman pre-maturely gave birth to a set of twins at the Max hospital, one of them still-born, the news of which was conveyed to the young parents by hospital authorities. An hour after this, the hospital told the parents that the second baby too had died.

Hospital staff then wrapped the two bodies in paper and prepared two packets - one each for the two babies. The packets were placed in a polythene bag and handed to the parents.

As the parents were taking the bodies to the burial ground, to their utter surprise and shock, there was some movement inside the bag.

The bag containing the packets with the babies' bodies The bag containing the packets with the babies' bodies

It was only then that the parents realised that one of the newborn babies was alive. According to Max's statement, the baby is currently reported to be on life support at a nursing home.

Recounting the ordeal, the grandfather of the baby said, "I was told by the doctors that one baby is already dead while second baby needs to be admitted which will cost Rs 1 lakh per day and total cost will come to around Rs 50 lacs."

"Later, doctors told us that even the second baby has died. We were given two packets with [a] baby inside each packet. On our way to burial ground, we [felt] some leg movement in the packet containing [the] baby boy. We opened it and admitted the baby in a near by nursing home," the grandfather added.

The Delhi Police have called the incident shocking and an example of high negligence. "We have started an inquiry and investigation in this case, also consulting legal experts," the Delhi Police spokesperson Deependra Pathak said.

Very shocking incident, height of negligence. We have started inquiry and investigation in this case, also consulting legal experts, Delhi Medical Council and taking details of all circumstances, will analyse the them& initiate action: Deependra Pathak, Spokesperson, Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/0Xkrb2Ixlq - ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017

Meanwhile, the hospital too said that it has begun investigating the incident which it termed 'unfortunate'.

"It has been brought to our attention that a pre-mature (22 weeks), newborn baby who is reported to be on life support at a nursing home was unfortunately handed over without any (sic) sign of life by Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh," the hospital said in its statement.

"This baby was one of the twins delivered on November 30 morning. The other baby was still-born. We are shaken and concerned at this rare incident," the hospital added.

"We have initiated a detailed enquiry, pending which, the concerned doctor has been asked to proceed on leave immediately. We are in constant touch with the parents and are providing all the needed support."

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