Lucknow: Devastated family members were seen crying uncontrollably outside the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the state-run Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi Saturday morning, after 10 newborns died in a fire that broke out in the unit late Friday.
“Mera baccha andar hai…mera baccha jal gya hai… (my baby is inside, my baby was charred to death),” one parent told media persons, wailing. A relative said the baby was born just last Saturday.
Thirty-nine newborns were saved by hospital staff and family members who broke windows to enter the SNCU late Friday.
As many as 54 children were admitted in the SNCU where sparks in an oxygen concentrator were followed by a blast between 10.30 and 10.45 pm, according to hospital staff.
Chilling visuals of charred bodies of newborns being rushed out of the unit have emerged, and parents could be seen attempting to locate their babies early Saturday.
Family members said hospital staff broke the windows of the NICU to try and rescue the babies.
In a statement, chief medical superintendent of the medical college Sachin Mahor said: “There was an attempt to bring the fire under control but it spread quickly. Ten children have died so far while treatment of the rest is going on.”
Mahor told ANI that identification of three babies out of the ten claimed by the fire is underway. “As of now, all the rescued babies are stable. The bodies of three babies are yet to be identified, and the process of identifying them is underway so that they can be handed over to their parents,” ANI quoted him as saying.
Of those rescued, at least 16 newborns are undergoing treatment in the same hospital while seven have been taken to other private hospitals for treatment.
Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar told mediapersons there are two units in the SNCU. “The outer unit is for babies in stable condition while the inner unit is for babies in critical condition. The fire is suspected to have originated from the inner unit, possibly due to a short circuit. Those admitted in the outer unit have mostly been saved, several of those admitted in the inner unit have also been saved,” he said.
He further said that according to hospital staff, the fire was caused by a short circuit inside the inner unit. The government has formed a two-member inquiry committee which includes the divisional commissioner Bimal Dubey and the deputy inspector general of police Kalanidhi Naithani.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also told media persons that a short circuit had caused the fire. At around 2 pm, he posted on X, saying: The incident in Jhansi is sad. My condolences to all the families who have lost their innocent children…” The post also had a video in which the CM was speaking about the incident at a rally.
झांसी में हुई घटना दु:खद है,
मेरी संवेदना उन सभी परिजनों के प्रति है, जिन्होंने अपने मासूम बच्चों को खोया है… pic.twitter.com/HWja22nGWx
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) November 16, 2024
A statement from the CM’s office said Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak (who holds the health portfolio) and Principal Secretary (Medical Health and Family Welfare) Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma had gone to the spot while Adityanath had been taking stock of the situation throughout the night.
“On the directions of the CM, the families of the newborns are being granted a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each while those of the injured children are being granted Rs 50,000 each. The CM has asked the divisional commissioner and the DIG of Jhansi to submit a report within 12 hours,” the CMO statement further said.
Asked about the possible reasons for the fire breaking out in the SNCU, deputy CM Pathak told media persons at the hospital premises that he would keep the contents of the inquiry report before the media and the public once it is received.
“The fire safety audit was conducted in February. A mock drill was done in June. We can comment on why and how this incident occurred only once the investigation report is received,” he further said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, wrote: “The fire accident at Jhansi Medical College in Uttar Pradesh is heart-wrenching. My deepest condolences to those who have lost their innocent children in this. I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this tremendous loss. The local administration, under the supervision of the state government, is making every possible effort for relief and rescue.”
‘Gorakhpur should not be repeated’
Meanwhile, the Opposition has hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government, alleging negligence. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said the cause of the fire, cited as a spark in the oxygen concentrator, is indicative of negligence on part of the hospital management and questioned the quality of oxygen concentrators used.
Hitting out at Adityanath, Akhilesh said the CM should focus on the poor state of UP’s health infrastructure instead of election campaigns and “false promises of ‘all is well’”.
The ex-CM further remarked in his X post that he hoped those busy preparing election strategies will conduct an honest probe into the tragedy. “Gorakhpur should not be repeated,” he said, referring to the August 2017 tragedy when 31 children died in 48 hours in the paediatric ward at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, allegedly due to a lack of oxygen supply, sparking nationwide outrage.
झाँसी मेडिकल कॉलेज में आग लगने से 10 बच्चों की मृत्यु एवं कई बच्चों के घायल होने का समाचार बेहद दुखद एवं चिंताजनक है। सबके प्रति संवेदनात्मक श्रद्धांजलि।
आग का कारण ‘ऑक्सीजन कॉन्संट्रेटर’ में आग लगना बताया जा रहा है। ये सीधे-सीधे चिकत्सीय प्रबंधन व प्रशासन की लापरवाही का मामला… pic.twitter.com/639O0QHPPK
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) November 16, 2024
Akhilesh also hit out at deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, who is also the UP health minister, without naming him. In his X post, the SP chief remarked: “A minister who is engaged in making lowly narrow-minded and communal comments would be hardly remembering that he is the health and medical services minister too. He neither has any power or any will but only has a placard of his name,” he wrote.
Expressing his condolences, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: “Such tragic incidents happening one after another in Uttar Pradesh raise many serious questions about the negligence of the government and the administration. The government should ensure that the injured children get the best possible treatment. Also, this tragic incident should be investigated immediately and strict legal action should be taken against the culprits.”
‘We took out the children after breaking the mesh’
Speaking to mediapersons, Deepu, the father of one of the surviving children said he had been sleeping outside the unit when the fire broke out.
“My child is inside now, I don’t know if the treatment is being done. We took out the children after breaking the mesh,” he said.
In more visuals that have emerged from the spot, fire department officials and hospital staff could be seen sprinkling water inside the unit where most equipment was destroyed.
A relative of a couple who lost their child told media persons: “Our child was born on Tuesday morning. He was admitted inside the unit where a fire broke out suddenly. I saw bodies of 10 kids being brought out in a charred state…there was a lot of smoke inside.”
Crying, she said the baby boy was the first child of her brother Kuldeep and his wife Neetu, who had come from Mahoba.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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