KARACHI: A newborn girl died when an incubator caught fire at the National Institute of Child Health — the largest children’s hospital in Sindh — early on Thursday morning.
According to a preliminary probe, the fire was caused by a short-circuit in the incubator, located on the second floor of the hospital’s surgical ward.
The victim’s family took away the body, without letting the police complete medico-legal formalities.
NICH Executive Director Dr Jamal Raza said that “malfunction of equipment possibly led to an incident of fire in the surgical ward”.
Dr Raza added that “the fire was controlled swiftly with an extinguisher and patients were evacuated. However, the baby in the incubator could not survive.”
Later in the day, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a report from the facility’s executive director.
Shah also expressed regret over the infant’s death and directed the hospital administration to take necessary measures to avoid such incidents in the future, the chief minister’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Sindh health department has constituted an inquiry committee to probe the incident.
The committee will be headed by the administration special secretary and comprise Dr Sikandar Memon, the programme manager of Sindh HIV/AIDS Control Programme, Dr Zulfiqar, director of the Electro-Medical Workshop, Jamshoro and Dr Rubina, Additional Medical Superintendent of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, according to the notification.
The committee has been directed to furnish its report within three days.
