Following the incident, health authorities put on hold the evaluation process for giving the university medical center tertiary general hospital status, which can allow it to treat critically ill patients. The designation also benefits hospitals because they can get higher health insurance fees.

"The latest decision is in line with the hospital's stance to take full responsibility for the deaths and to share the pain of the affected family members," said Moon Byung-in, the hospital's chief administrator, in a press release.

Police concluded that the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit had consistently violated anti-infection guidelines that require a vial of medication to be assigned to a single patient. It said this practice has been ongoing since 1993, when the hospital was established. (Yonhap)