At least 14 newborn babies die in fire at Pakistan hospital’s maternity ward

Original article by Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad and Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

At least 14 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out in the maternity ward at one of Pakistan’s most prominent state hospitals.

The blaze began in the early hours of Wednesday and engulfed the ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the biggest state hospital in Islamabad.

A statement by the hospital administration confirmed that 14 newborn babies in the intensive care unit (ICU) died in the fire.

Dr Aneeza Jalil, a hospital spokesperson, told the Dawn newspaper that 15 babies were on the ward at the time and that one baby was saved by a doctor.

Women who had just given birth had to run down several flights of stairs and climb out of windows and down ladders to escape.

The health minister, Mustafa Kamal, said many of the babies were in incubators or on oxygen, and that the oxygen canisters made the fire worse.

Investigators said the fire was started by a faulty air conditioning unit, which exploded inside the nursery where newborn infants under intensive care were sleeping.

Among the witnesses was Sardar Atti ur Rehman, 38, whose wife had given birth to a girl at the hospital the previous day. He had been sleeping at the hospital and rushed into the maternity ward as the fire was spreading, desperately looking for his wife and child.

He described scenes of panic as thick smoke filled the ward. “I could not see my family including my newborn baby in the room but kept searching,” he said. “My heart was heavy.” He later discovered they had both escaped the fire alive.

He said he saw a woman laid out on a stretcher and helped to drag her out of the ward, but other women refused to leave as they cried out for their babies.

“I saw a mother who was crying and screaming for her child who was admitted inside the ICU,” he said. “I tried to enter the ICU but failed as the smoke was too thick. I could not see anything and I was facing issues to breathe. I begged her that you need to save yourself and we will look for the child later.”

Rehman said there were few staff on the ward at the time of the fire and that the families were left to fend for themselves.

One father at the scene, whose newborn son was among the dead, claimed that there had been a lock on the door of the nursery and that no staff had been present to unlock it. The windows of the nursery were smashed by rescuers as they tried to reach the babies.

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, said the emergency call was made just before 7am and rescue and police teams quickly reached the scene.

The hospital administration said: “The fire was immediately brought under control and the children were immediately shifted to the intensive care unit.”

Alamzaib Khan, 26, was also among those who tried to run into the ward as it burned. His wife had given birth to a baby girl two days ago and she was still in the hospital recovering from a C-section, while his baby had already been taken home.

“I was sleeping on the pavement when I heard people screaming and wailing,” he said. “I ran towards the ICU and children’s ward and I saw my wife while climbing down a ladder.”

After checking on his wife, he tried to help with the rescue of others. “The moment I approached the children’s ward, I couldn’t see anything because the smoke was so thick,” he said. “I tried to go inside but it was not possible.”

“People were crying, screaming and asking for help. Women from the operation room had to run for their lives,” he said. “Women were in pain themselves but crying and begging everyone to help them to rescue their children. It’s hard to describe this terrible moment.”

The prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, directed authorities to conduct an ​immediate investigation into the incident, which was one of the deadliest hospital fires in years.

“Such a situation involving children is irreparable,” Sharif said. “Those responsible should be identified, and the strictest action should be taken.”

Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, expressed condolences to the families of the newborn babies. In a statement, he said the loss of lives was heartbreaking.

Fires in large buildings such as factories and shopping centres are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and lax enforcement of building codes.