A fire at an infant care unit inside a hospital in India has resulted in the deaths of at least four newborn babies. The blaze on Monday night is the latest in a series of deadly fires at Indian hospitals, which had killed dozens just this year.
Rescue workers, firefighters, and hospital staff scrambled to save as many infants as they could before the fire engulfed the entire third floor of the Kamla Nehru Hospital in the central Indian city of Bhopal. Around 36 infants were rescued, but at least four babies were confirmed to have been burned alive.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the state, confirmed the fatalities on Tuesday afternoon. The state's minister of medical education, Vishvas Kailash Sarang, said all of the rescued infants are now receiving treatment. He added that an investigation has now been launched to determine the cause of the fire.
Officials did not detail the extent of the injuries sustained by the rescued infants. It was also not disclosed whether any of the hospital staff were injured during the blaze.
Hospital fires have become a national plague in India, with hundreds of people killed this year. However, the latest blaze hit close to home since the fatalities were newborns in a critical care unit. Bhopal, where the fire broke out on Monday, was also the scene of a massive gas leak in 1984, killing thousands of people and making the city a symbol of industrial disaster.
The incident has once again exposed India's woeful infrastructure and lack of fire safety precautions, notably in government hospitals. Online users have repeatedly slammed the government for its lack of action in light of the recent disasters. Chouhan joined the call for more preventive measures, stating that the latest fire was caused by "criminal negligence."
State governments have been chastised for failing to enforce building safety regulations and not equip facilities with fire-fighting equipment. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, fires caused 9,110 fatalities and 468 injuries in India in 2020.
A fire in a COVID-19 facility in the western state of Maharashtra killed at least 11 people last week. A fire at another COVID-19 ward at a hospital in the western state of Gujarat killed at least 18 people in the spring.
The most common cause of fire-related mishaps is a short circuit. According to a study of 19 instances in India since 2011, the majority occurred at government hospitals, and virtually all were triggered by short circuits, which was generally caused by overloaded and under-maintained electric networks.
