ANKARA, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - About 20 newborn babies have died over the past 15 days at a state hospital in Ankara, the chief physician told Anatolia news agency Sunday.

About a third of deaths were caused by infections, Leyla Mollamahmutoglu said, adding that most babies were born prematurely.

But a Turkish trade union of medical workers, SES, put the number at 27 and said the deaths took place between Thursday and Saturday.

The head of the Ankara branch of SES, Ibrahim Kara, blamed poor sanitary conditions, saying the delivery section was relocated to an insalubrious part of the building due to repairs at the hospital.

'The delivery room was moved to a compound with insifficient sanitary conditions, prone to infections,' Kara told AFP.

'Two or three women are made to wait on the same stretcher before giving birth and sometimes three newborn babies are put in the same incubator,' he said.