A fire at one of Pakistan's largest state-run hospitals killed 14 newborn babies on Wednesday morning, with witnesses describing locked ward doors, a long wait for rescue workers, and an absence of working fire safety equipment. Of the 15 infants in the unit at the time, only one survived.
The fire broke out in an air-conditioning unit on the third floor of the mother and child unit at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, known as PIMS, in the capital Islamabad. It began just after dawn. Hivsa Walid, who was near the ward with her sister-in-law, who had given birth days earlier, said she first heard a shout and thought a patient had died before she saw smoke. The pair escaped with the newborn.
"We didn't even think about our belongings. We just grabbed the baby and rushed downstairs," Walid told BBC News. "Some patients had delivered their babies just that night. I don't even know how we managed to get down - it was all a blur."
Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the fire. Jaweria, the mother of another victim, told AFP the door to the maternity ward was locked. "For two hours I kept crying and wailing," she said. "Police arrived after four hours and said they are here to investigate." She also said, "Why did the doctors leave the children there?" and, "To hell with you, rescue team and police. Babies burnt to death there, but nobody could save them."
The hospital's executive director, Rana Imran Sikander, disputed the claim that the door was locked, telling the BBC the ward's door was manned rather than locked, citing the need to protect newborns from theft, something that has happened previously at government hospitals in Pakistan.
The father of one of the babies who died told Reuters he had visited the ward for eight days and the building had "no fire security, no proper exits." He said, "All doors were closed, only one door was for us to visit our children. They kept the other doors locked because they feared we would come to see our children too often."
Several eyewitnesses said duty staff were not present when the fire broke out. One witness told AFP that people had to "break the door down," and that rescue teams were forced to smash windows to control the flames. Abdul Ghafoor, another witness, told AFP he tried to reach the maternity ward but could not get through. "There was thick black smoke inside and patients were trapped," he said. "Rescue teams arrived after almost two hours."
Islamabad's Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said rescue teams reached the scene "immediately" after the initial emergency call, according to AFP. That account conflicts with multiple witness statements.
Walid said the hospital's safety preparations appeared inadequate for a major medical facility. "There should have been fire extinguishers and protocols, but no one was doing anything - everyone was just running," she said.
