Amravati/Nagpur: Three babies, aged 2 to 10 days, died after a fire broke out at the newborn care unit on the third floor of District Women’s Hospital’s new building in Amravati early Monday. The victims include one girl and two boys. Mothers of two of the victims were at home while one was in the ward on the same floor when the fire broke out.While the baby girl was charred to death, two boy babies died due to suffocation and burns following the inferno that devoured all the SNCU machines, including baby warmers and ventilators at around 3.30am.After the fire triggered by a suspected short circuit in the ventilator’s monitor, the hospital staff managed to safely evacuate 36 babies to other units of the Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU). Mothers of these 36 babies were in wards on other floors of the hospital.Four to six more babies suffered burn injuries and have been shifted to Divisional Referral Service Hospital (Super Speciality). The condition of 4 to 6 injured babies is critical, doctors said. This baby suffered burns on hands and legs while three other babies have suffered minor burns.Other babies in the SNCU too suffered due to intense smoke. The babies were already battling neonatal diseases or low birth weight for which they were under treatment. These rescued infants were also shifted to Super Speciality while arrangements were made at GMCH Nagpur.Some babies have also been admitted to Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Medical College Hospital, informed district surgeon Dr Vinod Pawar.Officials said the short circuit was probably caused due to faulty electrical wiring/fittings. The fire soon engulfed the entire SNCU having plastic materials and oxygen supply in high proportion. Even the in-built firefighting system failed to work. It took around 20 minutes for the firemen to bring the situation under control.Eyewitness accounts mentioned that a ventilator in the SNCU “suddenly exploded” in the early hours of Monday. A ventilator blast is an extremely rare medical event.The hospital has three SNCUs with total capacity to treat 39 newborns. There were nine babies in the affected unit.The SNCU was started in the new building just a year ago. Premature, low-weight and critically ill babies are treated here. However, questions are being raised about why the firefighting system in the hospital did not get activated after the fire broke out. This incident has raised questions about the hospital’s emergency safety arrangements.About four years ago, a fire had broken out due to a short circuit in the newborn intensive care unit in the old building of District Women’s Hospital. As soon as smoke was seen, the nurses on duty had safely evacuated 22 babies from the ward.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced financial assistance of Rs5 lakh each to families of the deceased. Injured babies would be treated at govt expense, he said.Health minister Prakash Abitkar and guardian minister Chandrashekar Bawankule rushed to Amravati and reviewed the situation. Abitkar said a committee has been formed to ascertain the actual cause of the fire.The two boy victims were cremated in Amravati while remains of the baby girl were taken to Chikhaldara.
