Pakistan's top health official fired after infant deaths
A fire at a government hospital in Islamabad has killed at least 14 babies, with relatives of the victims questioning safety measures at the building.
Pakistan's top health official has been fired after a fire in a maternity ward in the capital, Islamabad, killed at least 14 newborns on the morning of August 26.
Officials said the fire started in an air-conditioning unit. The babies in the ward were either in incubators or connected to oxygen equipment. The tragedy has raised questions about safety measures at a government hospital in Islamabad.
The father of one of the victims, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the ward was in poor condition: "I had been going there for eight days. The building had no fire safety, no proper exits. All the doors were closed, only one door was open so we could see our children. They were worried that we would come to see our children too often, so they locked the other doors."
The hospital's chief executive told the BBC that the maternity ward was not locked, but that a guard was posted to protect the babies from being abducted.
Some witnesses who described chaotic and terrifying scenes at the hospital complained that the rescuers' response was slow. One of them, Khurram Mahmud, told AFP that he lost his three-day-old daughter in the fire and said it took hours for rescuers to arrive: "We were waiting on the side of the road for help." Another witness said the fire had spread "very quickly." He said he entered the hospital to help save patients but was unable to reach the maternity ward: "There was thick black smoke inside and the patients were trapped... the rescue teams arrived after about two hours."