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Probe ordered after 4 infants killed in Bhopal hospital fire
Four newborns died as a fire swept through the neonatal care unit of the Kamla Nehru Children’s Hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal on Monday night, prompting chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to order a probe into the cause of the fire
Four newborns died as a fire swept through the neonatal care unit of the Kamla Nehru Children’s Hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal on Monday night, prompting chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to order a probe into the cause of the fire.
At the time of the incident, there were 40 newborn babies in the ward.
As allegations of poor facilities surface a day after the fire, the state fire department said that the hospital authorities never sought a clearance from the department.
The blaze started in the neonatal ward of the hospital at around 8.30pm after a short circuit in one of the ventilators, a nurse said, asking not to be named.
“Someone controlled the fire with the help of fire extinguishers, but due to power cut and smoke, there was zero visibility in the ward,” she said.
In the chaos, she said, people could be heard crying and running out of the ward.
The hospital administration on Tuesday said that the four newborns died while they were being shifted from the neo-natal care unit to the paediatric care unit.
Three other children died hours before the fire, but their parents hadn’t collected the bodies till the fire broke, the hospital said.
The Kamla Nehru Children’s Hospital is part of the Hamidia Hospital and is affiliated with Gandhi Medical College.
State medical education minister Vishwas Sarang said, “We safely shifted the children from the hospital but we couldn’t save critically ill four newborn babies of age group 12 days to one day. The three others died naturally due to certain medical complications before the fire.”
Families of the children who were admitted at the hospital have accused the hospital staff of negligence, alleging that the staff ran to safety leaving the newborns behind.
“I requested them to enter the ward to save my baby but they shut the door. I had to break the window panes to let the smoke out,” said Ramesh Dangi, whose five-day-old child was also in the ward. Dangi’s child survived the fire, but is reportedly in a serious condition.
The hospital administration has also been accused of inadequate medical and fire safety equipment.
A senior paediatrician, who attended to the children after the fire, said, “In PICU, there was hardly any arrangement of ventilators or warmers. We needed warmers for at least 30 newborns but we had only three. After the fire, most of the children were suffering from hypothermia. We could only provide oxygen support. Later, biomedical engineers and the other staff brought warmers from the special neonatal care unit.” The doctor requested anonymity.
Fire department officials said that the fire could have been controlled easily if there were adequate safety equipment, including fire hydrants, at the hospital.
“When we reached there, the situation was chaotic. Nobody knew what to do which resulted in delay in taking control of the situation,” said Bhopal Municipal Corporation fire officer Rameshwar Neil.
“No fire audit was conducted at the hospital in the last 15 years. The hospital administration didn’t even apply for no objection certificate from the fire department for having enough fire safety arrangements. Even we conducted a mock drill at Hamidia hospital for imparting training of health officers,” he said.
“We wrote to the health department at least five times for fire audit of all the government hospitals in Bhopal, including Kamla Nehru. But they did not reply to our letters,” he said.
Health department officials did not respond to HT’s request for comment on the allegations.
The fire department official further alleged that there was excessive load on the power cables at the hospital, which led to a short circuit, he said. “There was no safety audit done and there was no fire safety officer appointed,” he said.
A similar fire was reported at the hospital on October 7. No casualties were reported from the incident.
While hospital superintendent Lokendra Dave refused to comment, Jitendra Shukla, dean of Gandhi Medical College, denied the allegations. “There were enough safety arrangements at the hospital,” Shukla said.
“We have all the arrangements of fire safety. I don’t know about fire safety audit but it was an accident. We saved 36 critically ill newborn babies,” he said.
The state government has announced an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh each to the families of the four newborns who died due to the fire. “It is an unfortunate incident. A probe has been ordered into the incident. This is a case of criminal negligence. Stringent action will be taken against those found guilty,” chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted.
The government has constituted a panel, headed by additional chief secretary Mohammad Suleman, to probe the incident, the CM said. The panel has been directed to submit a report within a week, he added.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath accused the hospital administration of negligence and sought criminal action against them. “Police action should be taken against the hospital administration and a high-level inquiry should be conducted in the matter to check the number of deaths,” the Congress leader said.
Bhopal gas tragedy activist Rachna Dhingra said the hospital is ill-equipped to handle the high number of patients it treats. “Last year, three Covid-19 patients died due to interruption in oxygen supply because of sudden power cut. That time too, no action was taken against the administration of Hamidia hospital,” Dhingra, who has raised the issue of poor facilities at the hospital in the past, said.
An inquiry into the deaths of three Covid-19 patients at the hospital, conducted by then Bhopal divisional commissioner Kavindra Kiyawat, could not confirm that oxygen shortage as the cause of death.
The 850-bed Hamidia hospital gets nearly 2,000 patients every day, Shukla said.
Several leaders, including state medical education minister Vishwas Sarang and BJP MP Pragya Thakur, visited the hospital on Tuesday.
