The Ministry of Health has called for an urgent investigation into an apparently false rumour about the death of a mother and her child in HCM City while having a natural birth at home.

The Ministry of Health has asked for the co-operation of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security and the Central Propaganda and Education Commission for the investigation.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien, the natural birth trend has become more popular.

On March 14, Facebooker Minh Phuong posted information which claimed a mother in HCM City’s District 2 had died of exhaustion, while the child died from suffocation during her birth at home. The mother was said to have attended a training workshop on giving birth naturally at the cost of VND15 million (USD659).

The post went viral, sparking public concerns about the risks of home births.

Right after that the health ministry immediately requested HCM City’s Health Department and Tu Du Hospital authorities verify the information, however, no such a case was found.

Nguyen Duc Vinh, director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Maternal and Child Health, said that the ministry would propose the Ministry of Information and Communications to impose strict measures against individuals who take advantage of social media to spread misleading and harmful information.

Dtinews