Four-day-old girl burns to death in incubator at NICH

A neonate burned alive early on Thursday morning after the incubator in which she was placed at the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) caught fire.

“Four-day-old Iqra burned alive after her incubator on the hospital’s second floor caught fire,” NICH Director Prof Dr Jamal Raza confirmed while talking to The News. “Apparently, some technical fault resulted in the fire that destroyed the machine that keeps children warm and hydrated in the presence of pure oxygen.”

Following the horrific incident, the NICH administration shut down all of the hospital’s incubators to conduct their detailed inspection, while the Sindh Health Department formed an inquiry committee comprising officials of the department, doctors and bioelectrical experts to investigate the incident and report to the authorities in three days.

Thursday’s incident at the NICH bears a striking resemblance to two previous fires that have occurred in a span of a fortnight at public hospitals located on the same road and involving treatment facilities meant for children.

Around two weeks ago, a fierce fire at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) had destroyed the entire floor, halting surgeries at the public health facility. Fortunately, no one was harmed in the incident.

And a few days ago, after an incubator caught fire in the gynaecology ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, a nursery was completely gutted. Firefighters were called in to extinguish the blaze. Although nobody was hurt in the incident, equipment worth thousands of rupees was destroyed.

Internal inquiry

Lamenting the loss of a precious life due to the fire at the NICH, Dr Raza said that since oxygen was being supplied to the incubator, the machine was destroyed completely.

He added that since the incubator was completely sealed, all the efforts to open the lid of the burning machine to take out the newborn baby failed.

“Our staff tried their best to extinguish the blaze and used the fire extinguisher to put out the flames, but the blaze was so fierce that it completely destroyed the machine, reducing the baby inside into a charred body.”

Responding to another question, he said they have started an internal inquiry into the incident. He added that their surgeon Dr Jamshed has been tasked with investigating the tragedy and furnish his report at the earliest.

“In the meantime, we have switched off 10 incubators, and electrical experts are inspecting them while other electrical machines are also being examined,” said Dr Raza.

‘No one came to help’

The maternal grandmother of the baby girl has held the NICH staff responsible for the painful death of her granddaughter, saying that when the fire erupted in the incubator, everybody ran away and nobody was there to help, and she saw her granddaughter burn alive in front of her eyes.

“When the fire broke out, everybody ran away. I cried for help but nobody returned came back. I tried my best to open the box [the incubator], but it was burning so fiercely that I could not even go close to it. The fire died without any intervention on its own after several minutes, but by that time, our baby girl had turned into charcoal.”

Expressing grief and sorrow over the neonate’s death, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah directed the officials to furnish him with the inquiry report and take measures for the safety of patients.

Moreover, the inquiry committee formed by the health department comprises the additional health secretary, Dr Sikandar Memon of the Sindh Aids Control Programme, bioelectrical expert Dr Zulfiqar and Dr Rubina of the Civil Hospital Karachi.