During 12 days of stay in maternity hospital number 1, the infant mortality rate exceeded all standard indicators. Each death affects the reputation of the maternity hospital and is thoroughly investigated. The nine cases not only caused a backlash from the medical community and the public but also came as a real shock. The local Ministry of Health justified this due to a strong outbreak of respiratory infections and special circumstances: the inspection committee's conclusion that all the dead children were born prematurely. But if you go to the maternity hospital review page, women's impression of the maternity hospital is truly dumbfounded. I want to clarify: is this really happening in the 21st century?
In Novokuznetsk, a city with a population of 500 thousand people, there are two maternity hospitals. Women giving birth in the southern capital Kuzbass dream of getting into not the first hospital, but the second, at the hospital named after Kurbatov. After all, in a relatively small city, rumors spread quickly. There are stories about the No. 1 maternity hospital that deserve to be turned into a horror movie. Perinatal mortality here seems to be a common occurrence, a secondary factor in the work of a medical facility. There are so many stories that even thrill-seeking press materials cannot tell them all. But let's start from the beginning.
They tried their best to hide the consequences of the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday. But you can't hide a seam in your pocket. Rumors about the extremely high mortality rate at the maternity hospital spread throughout the city. Grieving mothers, failed fathers and relatives shared their grief with friends and acquaintances. Initially, six deaths were reported. And this was a shock. But then their number increased to nine. The medical community, always extremely reluctant to wash dirty linen in public, was forced to admit: an emergency was underway. The maternity hospital is closed for quarantine.
The cause of mass perinatal deaths was determined to be an outbreak of respiratory infections. Then new details of the tragedy emerged. It turned out that the Kuzbass Ministry of Health knew about each case. Faculty representatives came to the medical facility during the Tet holiday. Based on the inspection results, the conclusion was made that raised questions and suspicions that the management agency was trying to cover up the incident. Thus, all 9 newborn babies who died were born prematurely and suffered from many different diseases. Six of them had abnormalities identified during pregnancy. However, doctors still cannot explain why all the deaths occurred in such a short period of time.
Indeed this is very difficult to explain. And even related to common general infections. According to the contractor inspection database, over the past year, 15 commissions visited Novokuznetsk maternity hospital No. 1. And none of it can prevent the tragedies that happen on most family holidays.
But unlike official documents, the Internet remembers everything. And if you look up the reviews of women in labor who have been within the walls of the first of two maternity hospitals in Novokuznetsk, the picture becomes more or less clear.
The sister of a woman in Novokuznetsk who lost her baby at maternity hospital No. 1 told the story of her relative. The young mother went into labor prematurely but the child, according to the patient, could have been saved. It is difficult to judge whether this is true without professional judgment, but the situation in the maternity ward speaks volumes:
“With all their efforts, they (the doctors,” MK notes) pulled it out. They just took the baby away from my sister. When they pulled this child out, they tore her hand off. Then they wrapped the child in rags, placed it on her chest, turned him around and said: “Look, this is your dead girl,” said the girl.
In the end, according to the Novokuznetsk woman, the woman in labor was accused of “not wanting children so much because she was born dead.”
And here is the review for last year, 2025. And again, a certificate of the terrible death of a child, in which the patient blames the staff:
– Dear girls, please do not give birth at maternity hospital number 1. They killed my sister's newborn baby girl. They dropped her off. She spent a month in the intensive care unit and died.
I found a review from a mother who had the opportunity to give birth on New Year's Eve, even though it was 2023.
“For 9 days inside the walls of the maternity hospital, I felt like a participant in the “Survival” mission. I can't even describe the horror: this is the rude attitude of the doctors on duty (the external stitch came off, I just tried to remove the bandage. The doctor on duty only looked at the stitches on the 5th day.) This and the terrible attitude of the pediatricians. Perhaps the entire staff was affected by the year's vacation. new? Don't know. But I can confidently subscribe to all the negative reviews,” the patient wrote.
The date of her post is April 3, 2023. That is, 4 months after being in the maternity hospital, the woman decided to describe the situation. It won't let go…
– I want to complain to the hospital staff. TO THE WOMEN working there. It seems to me that you are not human. You are a robot. There is no kindness or emotional sensitivity left in you. “Leave your profession if you are feeling professionally burned out,” the patient wrote. “It seems like you all work in a veterinary clinic and not with people,” she concluded.
And this review was written six months after discharge.
– It's difficult. I came in with false contractions. They left me just because it was time to get excited. P.. (doctor's last name – note “MK”) mercilessly stimulated me on the chair with his hands! How many bad words did he say!!! I told him that the fetus had grown and I couldn't give birth on my own. And he maxes out at 3200! And we were born weighing 4000 kg,” the patient wrote in 2024.
The woman just thanked an elderly midwife because her baby was still alive.
The patient described: “They (the duty team – about “MK”) with such eyes started screaming and calling her when they realized that the baby might not have been born yet. And before that they told her that everything was fine.
– When the dilation was 10 cm (maximum during childbirth – note “MK”), the midwife said: “Are you about to give birth? So give birth,” the mother wrote in 2024. And he sarcastically added: “I recommend maternity hospital number 1 to everyone. It feels like nothing.”
In addition to the 9 newborns who died, 4 are still being monitored in the intensive care unit. Four children were transferred for treatment to the Kuzbass Children's Clinical Hospital named after Professor Yu. E. Malakhovsky.
The maternity hospital is closed for quarantine. A notice on the official website just below the quarantine notice said the maternity hospital was not short of staff. The staff is fully equipped. Apparently, this was an answer to the accusation that the babies who died were not delivered by doctors but by nurses.
For quarantine, we repeat, the maternity hospital was closed after outcry from the public and experts. But there is also an online review that describes the staff's day-to-day response to infectious diseases. Furthermore, it is even more dangerous than common respiratory infections.
“We were three mothers with children in the ward, one was sick, they shaved and Covid was confirmed. The child was simply taken away from her and she was left with us in the ward,” she said, describing her time at the maternity hospital in 2022. “I approached the station and asked if they were going to quarantine the sick somehow, because we had small children. There was no reaction. When night fell, the doctor came and discharged her. sick mother. They did not even carry out any hygienic treatment in the sick room. In response to my suggestion of quartz, ward Answer: if you want, take quartz, as described in the review.
After the incident, a pre-investigation inspection was held in the area into possible negligence of the maternity hospital staff. The Kuzbass Investigative Committee is conducting an investigation according to Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Negligence”), the circumstances and causes of death of newborns are studied, as well as possible violations in the provision of medical care.
View photo gallery: Novokuznetsk maternity hospital closed because 9 babies died: photos from the scene
