A baby girl declared stillborn by a government hospital shocked her grieving parents when she started moving as they prepared to bury her, a report said today.

The father, Azmi Masiron, said he and other mourners in a village in Kedah noticed a tiny movement from the baby as she lay on a funeral shroud, shortly after being declared dead on Sunday.

"When my father-in-law placed the baby on the burial shroud, she suddenly moved, shocking about 200 villagers who had gathered for the funeral," Azmi was quoted saying by the New Straits Times .

The 26-year-old father said he had been informed by the doctor of his daughter's death minutes after his wife, Nordewiyana Din, 28, delivered the baby prematurely.

The baby, who was wrapped in a cloth, had not moved during the five-kilometre ride from the hospital to his village for the funeral, Azmi said.

"I am really upset ... I hope this does not happen to another parent," Azmi said, adding he would take his complaint about the hospital to police.

The baby, who only weighs 330 grams, was rushed back to hospital and has been placed in an incubator.