Tragedy struck twice when a five-day-old baby girl was charred to death in an incubator at a government hospital in the national capital.
Incubator, light therapy machines catch fire in Delhi, Ahmedabad
NEW DELHI/ AHMEDABAD: Tragedy struck twice when a five-day-old baby girl was charred to death in an incubator at a government hospital in the national capital while a three-day-old baby boy died after a fire broke out in the photo treatment machine of an Ahmedabad hospital early on Wednesday.
In both cases, the babies were born prematurely.
Kamlesh Kumari, a daily labourer, had a baby at the Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in New Delhi two months early last Friday. Early on Wednesday, when the parents heard the baby cry they asked the nurse to check on the child or allow them to see the baby.
“I heard my baby crying and asked the nurse to check on her, but she said everything was fine,” says the baby’s father Om Prakash, adding when another nurse went inside the room the child had been completely charred. “We saw sparks near the bed. When we entered we only got to see her ashes,” he said.
“The baby died when the incubator caught fire. Apparently the incubator had been set at a higher temperature,” said a senior police official.
In Ahmedabad, the incident occurred in the paediatric ward of Shardaben Hospital around 4.15 am when a short circuit in the photo treatment machine sparked a fire.
“Broken particles of the ultra-violet tubelight started falling on the baby kept on the table under it and within minutes the baby was burnt to death,” a nurse who was an eyewitness to the incident told DNA. Hospital authorities managed to save three other babies.
The child’s mother Pushpa Rai suffers from high blood pressure and has not yet been informed. “She has been told that the baby is being monitored by the doctors,” said the baby’s father Manoj Rai (35) as he waited for his child’s body outside the post-mortem department.
The Rais hail from Delhi and were heading to Bhavnagar to visit the Khodiyar temple along with their three-year-old daughter Preety when Pushpa went into labour and had to be admitted to hospital. The baby was born last Sunday after a C-section.
Manoj makes a living selling craft books in Delhi schools. “I earn around Rs200 a day,” he said.
The hapless family is now camping in the hospital itself.
While Shardaben Hospital superintendent Nimish Pandya termed it a freak accident, saying all the machines had been serviced only six months ago, the Delhi couple claimed that initially the hospital staff refused to take any blame for the mishap.
“They said it was an accident and it could happen anywhere,” said an inconsolable Kamlesh. Three members of the hospital staff, including a doctor and two nurses, were later suspended.
The Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital authorities refused to allow mediapersons inside the premises and medical superintendent Ashok Dang refused to make any comments. All he said was “a committee has been constituted to investigate the matter.”
The police have sealed the room where the incident took place and detained four members of the hospital for interrogation. A case has been registered under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
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