AMRAVATI: Hours after calling his family to share the joy of becoming a father, Swapnil Barge found himself desperately searching the corridors of a government hospital for his wife and day-old son.By Monday morning, he learnt that his premature newborn was among three infants killed in a fire that broke out in the NICU, news agency PTI reported.The fire broke out at the District Women’s Hospital in Amravati in the early hours of Monday after a ventilator in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) caught fire, killing three newborns.Barge, a resident of Pulgaon village, said he had remained awake late into the night after his wife delivered their premature, underweight son at another hospital on Sunday.The mother and child were later referred to the District Women’s Hospital as the baby required NICU care.“I was very happy because I had a son. I had telephoned my family and conveyed the good news. I couldn’t sleep, and I was awake till 3 am,” Barge told PTI.
‘I kept looking for my baby and wife’
Around 3.30am, Barge was standing near the hospital gate with a friend when he heard a woman shouting. He said the family was initially not told what had happened.“Then there was an uproar, and the fire brigade came. I kept looking for my baby and wife, searched a lot but couldn’t find him,” he said.Smoke and panic had engulfed the NICU as the fire spread through the unit.Barge said his frantic search continued through the morning before he finally learnt around 7.30am that his newborn son had died.“I kept looking for my baby and my wife. I searched a lot but couldn’t find my son after the fire and came to know in the morning that he had died,” he said.The newborn was premature and underweight and had been admitted to the NICU after being referred from another hospital.
Three newborns killed in NICU fire
Three newborns died in the blaze at the Government Women’s Hospital. The fire reportedly originated from a ventilator in the NICU, triggering a rescue operation as smoke filled the unit.Fire brigade personnel rushed to the hospital and brought the blaze under control. The incident has raised concerns over safety arrangements inside the critical-care unit.The deaths turned what had begun as a night of celebration for families awaiting the arrival of their newborns into tragedy.Barge, who had only hours earlier shared the news of becoming a father with his family, was left mourning a child he never got the chance to take home.(With agency inputs)
