Updated - The Health Department is holding an investigation into the death of two babies delivered by a mother who had triplets at the Neonatal Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of Mater Dei Hospital.
The department said their mother had developed an infection which was passed on to the babies, with fatal consequences.
The authorities immediately launched an investigation into the unit and will be taking action on the basis of the results. However it was too early to draw conclusions.
The department said it wanted to assure the people that all mothers and babies were receiving a high level of care.
It was reacting to comments made this morning about an abnormal increase in premature multiple births at Mater Dei.
Four sets of triplets have been born over the past five weeks and a fifth set is on the way leading to a situation where these multiple births, brought about by IVF, are clogging hospital’s ward for premature babies, MPs said in the morning.
Apart from the triplets, a set of twins were also born and is being cared for at Mater Dei’s Neonatal Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Two babies died after the infection.
The ward, that has a capacity of 18 beds, currently has 28 babies.
The figures were announced by members of the Parliamentary Committee on Assisted Procreation – Jean-Pierre Farrugia, Michael Farrugia and Frans Agius – after they held a meeting with consultants at the NPICU.
Last October the committee had suggested that IVF in Malta should be regulated and that a national embryo freezing service should be set up.
Jean-Pierre Farrugia pointed out that lack of these measures was leading to an overcrowding at NPICU. The problem was that private clinics implanted three of four embryos into women at about the same time of year. This was leading to multiple births at once.
Michael Farrugia pointed out that the risk of morbidity and mortality increased with multiple births. While stressing that not all babies born through IVF ended up in NPICU, regulation was essential.
He said that the anti-embryo freezing lobby group, set up this month, had given a “false message” when it said that the birth of triplets happened once every three years or so.
Frans Agius said: “We are very worried that, unless there is regulation, this will keep happening.”
The Health Department said that manpower, incubators and other medical equipment were added as the workload increased.
It reiterated that the government wanted to regulate IVF. A Bill was in advanced stage of preparation and would be published in the coming days.