10 newborn children die in Bhandara hospital fire outbreak
10 newborn children die in Bhandara hospital fire outbreak
Nagpur: In a fire outbreak at the sick newborn care unit (SNCU), 10 newborn children lost their lives at Bhandara Civil Hospital in Maharastra on Saturday early morning. Seven children were rescued by the fire fighters just after the fire broke out. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
According to reports, the fire broke out at around 2.0 am in the SNCU, where 17 newborns were admitted. A nurse and a doctor were on duty at the time of the incident. The smoke coming from the neonatal section was first noticed by the nurse, who immediately informed the hospital authorities. The hospital authority immediately called the fire brigade to rescue the babies. The seven rescued children were shifted to another ward. Besides, the patients in the ICU, dialysis wing and the labour ward were also shifted to other wards.
According to the civil surgeon of Bhandara district Pramod Khandate, the infants killed in fire outbreak were between a month and three-months old. Some of them were charred to death while the others died due to cut of oxygen supply. The exact cause of death would be ascertained after the post-mortem.
Expressing grief over the tragic incident, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Heart-wrenching tragedy in Bhandara, Maharashtra, where we have lost precious young lives. My thoughts are with all the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover as early as possible”.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered a probe into the cause of the tragedy. The Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope announced ex-gratia of Rs. five lakh each to the kin of the deceased.
Union home minister Amit Shah, union minister for transport, Nitin Gadkari, the leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also expressed their condolences.
