Fire at Indian hospital leads to death of four newborns

By: Jivisha Aggarwal, Pawzfeed editor, The Pawprint

Out of 40 infants in the newborn care unit on the third floor of Kamla Nehru Hospital, a government hospital in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India 4 died in a fire. This is only the latest in a string of  fires in hospitals in India this year that have killed many. Just last week 11 people lost their lives when a fire broke out in a coronavirus ICU in Maharashtra. In the spring the fire in the covid ward of a hospital in Gujarat.

The other 36 most of whom were underweight were shifted to a different ward. “The other children are being treated.” tweeted state medical education minister Vishvas Kailash Sarang. Sarang also said that the fires were being investigated. The families of the victims will be receiving financial compensation and one can only hope it can alleviate some of the grief of these families. 

A study investigating hospital fires in India since 2011 shows that most of the fires were caused due to short circuiting and that most hospitals were government hospitals. State governments are being criticized for their inadequate handling of the situation and not adequately enforcing safety rules for buildings.