KARACHI: A newborn baby died when a fire broke out in an incubator of the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) on Thursday, which prompted Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to seek a report of it, and the health department to establish a body to inquire into the incident.

The family of the infant girl, living in a Korangi locality, originally hailed from Punjab.

A senior police officer said that the fire incident, which occurred at 5.40am at the NICH, possibly due to an electrical fault/short circuit, igniting the incubator.

In the tragic incident, a girl child aged two days, who had not yet been named by her parents, died owing to suffocation/smoke inhalation.

CM orders probe into tragedy

The police officer said that NICH executive director Dr Jamal Raza stated that an “internal inquiry” was being conducted, as it only took five to six minutes to put out the fire but the newborn child lost her life. The body was taken home by her parents.

Saddar SHO Arshad Afridi told Dawn that they were not informed by the hospital administration about the fire. However, he added that they conducted a preliminary probe into the incident, which revealed that apparently a short circuit had triggered the fire in the incubator. The family took away the body without allowing the police to fulfil legal formalities.

A fire brigade official said that they were also not informed about the incident.

Hospital version

Dr Jamal Raza told Dawn that “malfunction of equipment possibly led to the incident of fire in the surgical ward.”

He added that “the fire was controlled swiftly with an extinguisher and the patients were evacuated”.

However, the baby in the incubator could not be saved, the doctor further stated.

Meanwhile, the Sindh chief minister took notice of the fire in the NICH and sought a detailed report from the executive director of the children’s hospital.

Mr Shah also expressed sorrow over the death of the infant girl in the fire.

He directed the hospital administration to take necessary measures to prevent such tragedies in the future, said the chief minister’s spokesperson in a statement.

Health department probe

Meanwhile, the Sindh health department has established an inquiry committee to investigate the fire incident that occurred in the incubator on the second floor, surgical ward of the NICH.

The probe body would be led by the special secretary (admin) and its members comprise Dr Sikandar Memon, provincial programme manager of HIV/AIDS control programme, Sindh, Dr Zulfiqar, director of the electro-medical workshop, Jamshoro, and Dr Rubina, additional medical superintendent of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, the notification said.

The committee has been directed to furnish its report within three days.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2020