ANG THONG — 23 July 2026, the parents of a five-day-old baby who died at a state hospital are devastated after an autopsy reportedly found a depressed skull fracture and a broken ankle, following an alleged Chinese banquet inside the state hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
On 23 July, Paweena Hongsakul, president of the Paweena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women, accompanied the deceased infant’s parents to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Police General Hospital to receive the child’s body and hear the initial autopsy findings.
The parents alleged that a state hospital in Ang Thong province held a five-table Chinese banquet inside the NICU, where approximately five newborns, including the complainants’ baby, were being treated.
According to the parents, the infant was born prematurely by Caesarean section just five days earlier, weighing 4,305 grams, and was admitted to the NICU with persistent pulmonary hypertension. They said doctors later told them the baby’s condition was stable.
The mother said that when she visited the hospital on 20 July, she saw hospital executives, nurses and medical personnel hosting a five-table Chinese banquet inside the NICU, separated from their baby’s incubator only by transparent hanging curtains. She also claimed catering staff entered the ward without wearing face masks or other protective equipment.
The parents said they were harshly scolded by a nurse for approaching their child because visiting was unavailable while the banquet was taking place, and they were later ordered to leave. According to the family, the attending doctor claimed there was no risk of infection because the infant remained inside a sterile incubator.
The following morning, on 21 July, NICU staff called the father to say the baby’s condition had become critical overnight. Doctors later called the father in for a private discussion, informing him that the infant had contracted a new bloodstream infection, causing his heart rate to drop despite CPR being performed by medical staff. The baby died at just five days old.
The parents said the hospital issued a death certificate listing pulmonary hypertension as the cause of death, while the mother was verbally told by the doctor that the baby had died from a newly acquired bloodstream infection.
They also alleged that the hospital rushed them to remove the body from the ICU for the funeral. Deeply suspicious of the circumstances surrounding their son’s death, they contacted the Paweena Foundation for assistance.
Before the tragedy, the parents discovered a depression on the right side of the baby’s skull and an unnaturally rotated left ankle, prompting them to remain suspicious as to what had caused these injuries.
Following coordination between Paweena and Pol. Col. Kantapon Thanathippinsakul, superintendent of Samko Police Station in Ang Thong province, an official order was issued to transfer the infant’s body to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Police General Hospital for examination.
According to Paweena, a preliminary examination of the infant’s body found a depressed fracture to the left front of the skull and a fractured right ankle. However, forensic pathologists said the precise cause of death could not yet be determined.
Blood, tissue and liver samples have been sent for testing, with the detailed results expected in approximately two weeks.
