Early death for 10 premature babies in Bhandara hosp blaze, 7 rescued

Bhandara: In a heart-wrenching incident, 10 premature babies died after a fire broke out in the Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) on the first floor of the Bhandara District General Hospital around 1.30am-2am on Saturday. The victims included eight girls and two boys. Seven premature babies, all girls, were rescued, said authorities.
After the fire, a Covid patient admitted in the ICU of the hospital was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Nagpur where he was declared brought dead, said a relative.One more patient from the Bhandara hospital was shifted to GMCH, Nagpur.
The hospital is around 60km from Nagpur. Bhandara district civil surgeon Dr Pramod Khandate told TOI that three to four babies were charred to death while the other casualties happened as oxygen supply snapped due to the fire. The cause of the fire is not known but is believed to have been caused by a short-circuit.
The state government has ordered a high-level inquiry by a six-member committee into the accident. “Strictest action will be taken against the guilty after a thorough probe,” said chief minister Uddhav Thackeray while offering his condolences. He also announced a compensation of Rs5 lakh to the kin of the deceased. The CM is scheduled to arrive in Bhandara at 11 am on Sunday for a spot visit.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the Bhandara district collector Sandip Kadam to send the factual action taken report within 48 hours of receiving the letter.
Fire tenders reached the spot within 10 minutes after being informed and doused the flames within 30 minutes. According to Kalgun Gopala Wadhai, fire maintenance in-charge of Bhandara Municipal Council, the fire fighters could not find easy access to the special ward and had to use ladders and break open the windows to gain entry. “The rescue was hampered by low visibility due to the thick smoke,” he said.
It took concerted efforts from nurses, fire fighters, ambulance drivers, security guards and a few locals to rescue the seven babies from the inborn section (those born in the hospital). According to them, they couldn’t save the babies in the outborn section (those born in other hospitals but kept there for special care), which can be entered only through the inborn section, as the medical equipment there had caught fire.
Thackeray said though the state health care system and hospitals are fighting Covid-19 pandemic crisis, there will be no compromise with security at the hospitals. “Instructions have also been given to check whether fire audit of all the hospitals has been properly conducted,” he said. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has ordered that the child care units of other hospitals in the state to get audited immediately.
The inquiry committee will be headed by director of health services Dr Sadhana Tayde, said state health minister Rajesh Tope. The committee will have to submit report to the government within three days.
The rescued babies, including twin girls, were shifted to other units of the hospital. All the babies are yet to be named as they had been in special care since birth. Authorities knew names of the mothers of nine out of 10 victims. One name is missing as the child had been abandoned at birth.
Bodies of the victims were handed over to aggrieved parents but media was barred from talking to them. TOI contacted a few in their villages while authorities refused to answer queries. A large police posse was deployed on the hospital premises.
State home minister Anil Deshmukh, who reached Bhandara from Mumbai, too ordered a police inquiry into the accident. After reaching the hospital, he inquired with the staff who informed that they couldn’t enter the ward due to the thick smoke and the blasts caused by the equipment on fire.
The hospital staff also told Deshmukh that they even tried using the fire extinguishers but the flames couldn’t be controlled.
Dr Khandate in a media bulletin said nurses had opened the door, which means no staff was inside the special care unit at the time of incident. According to chief fire officer of Nagpur and PWD officials, the fire wouldn’t have spread to such an extent had anyone been present in the ward.
Former state energy minister and BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed that no action was taken even after relatives of the infants had complained about power fluctuations in the ward over the last week.
A team of National Fire Service College and Visveswaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) was asked to investigate into the cause of fire, said state relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar. The team rushed to the spot at 1pm.
Former chief minister and leader of opposition in state assembly Devendra Fadnavis also visited the hospital and demanded a compensation of Rs10 lakh for the families of the victims. He also said a case of culpable homicide should be registered against those found guilty of the tragic incident.