AMRAVATI: As flames engulfed the neonatal care unit of the government hospital in Maharashtra’s Amravati, the fire alarms remained silent and the water sprinklers failed to work, turning the ward housing critically ill newborns into a death trap.According to eyewitnesses, parents sleeping outside and security guards rushed into the smoke-filled neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to rescue soot-covered babies in the dark.A huge fire broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the District Women’s Hospital around 3.15am, leaving some newborns covered in soot as panic spread through the wards, eyewitnesses told PTI.Hospital staff managed to rescue 36 infants from the facility, while three newborns died in the incident.Praful Chopde, who lost his five-day-old son in the fire, was among grieving parents and relatives who alleged that the fire alarms did not sound and the sprinkler system failed to function when the blaze broke out.Speaking to the media, Chopde claimed that the fire alarm did not go off during the incident and said he had lost his child due to the hospital administration’s negligence.The distraught father said he had been blessed with a baby boy five days earlier and had admitted the infant and his mother to the hospital on August 19.Chopde’s relatives said his wife had not seen the infant in the last five days and questioned why only the infants and no hospital staff were harmed in the incident.They also alleged that the hospital authorities did not act immediately and waited for the fire tenders to douse the flames.Swapnil Barge, a resident of Pulgaon village who lost his day-old son in the fire, said, “Around 3.30am, I was standing at the hospital gate with a friend when I heard a woman shouting, but we were not told anything. 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.”Hours later, Barge was informed that his newborn had died.Relatives of some children admitted to the hospital claimed that the ward’s water-sprinkler system, which should have been activated immediately when the blaze broke out, failed to function.Yogesh Savarkar, a resident of Achalpur in Amravati, said his wife and eight-day-old child were admitted to the hospital and he was sleeping outside the building when the fire broke out.Savarkar said his child was on the first floor of the hospital. As flames spread through one of the wards, he rushed upstairs, rescued his baby and carried him down to safety.He and relatives of some other children recalled that the situation was extremely difficult, with fire spreading above the children admitted in the ward.“My child was on the first floor, and I personally went and brought him down. However, I could see black ashes on the other children in the hospital,” Savarkar said.Security guards were the first to reach the spot and began rescuing the children, he claimed, adding that he also saw a nurse helping save lives.Relatives of the children squarely blamed the administration for the tragedy.The families said they did not know the exact cause of the blaze, but described seeing a huge fire raging through the ward as panic spread among parents and staff.(With inputs from PTI)
