[Anchor]

A newborn baby has died in Jeonju, Jeonbuk Province. The infant was in urgent need of treatment by a neonatologist immediately after birth, but the baby ultimately passed away after no hospital could be found to accept the patient.

This incident highlights the reality of concerns regarding gaps in medical care. Reporter Park Ha-jeong covers the story for Morning Zoom-in.

[Reporter]

The baby was born at an OB-GYN clinic in Jeonju, Jeonbuk Province, at 8:13 p.m. on July 4.

[Baby's Mother: They said the baby was 3.47 kg. The doctor said, 'Don't worry about weighing the baby, give it 2 liters of oxygen immediately.' If the situation was that critical, they should have informed the guardians...]

[Hospital Official: The baby didn't cry for about 3 to 5 minutes. Usually, if you pat or rub them, they cry and recover. So, the baby did recover.]

When cyanosis, a condition where the skin turns bluish due to a lack of oxygen in the blood, appeared and the heart rate dropped to 70 after midnight, a nursing assistant called the doctor. The medical staff then began preparing to transfer the baby to a hospital with a neonatologist.

[Baby's Father: They told me I needed to come down quickly because the baby needed to be transferred. They told me to bring my own car. They said the baby was just limp.]

The three nearby hospitals with neonatologists were Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jesus Hospital, and Wonkwang University Hospital.

Among them, the only neonatologist professor who had been in charge of the neonatal intensive care unit at Chonbuk National University Hospital had expressed an intention to resign due to an excessive workload and was on leave.

For this reason, the OB-GYN clinic did not contact Chonbuk National University Hospital. They stated that Jesus Hospital was full and could not accept new patients, so they headed to Wonkwang University Hospital, which was more than 30 minutes away by car, with the baby.

The baby was already unable to breathe and passed away around 3:30 a.m. following CPR efforts.

[Hospital Official: Because the judgment was delayed and the arrangements were also delayed, it seems to have resulted in the worst possible outcome.]

The parents, who had been waiting for the day they would meet their baby and had left messages for the infant on ultrasound photos, had to say goodbye as soon as they met.

[Baby's Father: Anyone could see it was the golden time, the warning lights were flashing. The baby was crying out, 'Please save me.']

The police have launched an investigation into whether there was any medical malpractice.

(Video coverage: Joo Yong-jin | Video editing: Kim Jin-won)