Three newborns die in fire at NICU of Amravati government hospital

Three newborns were killed in a fire at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the District Women's Hospital in Amravati district early on Monday, officials said. A ventilator in the NICU on the third floor of the hospital suddenly sparked at 3.15 am, triggering the fire, they said.

Doctors, nurses and other staff on duty took the newborns out of the unit after the blaze erupted, officials said. Three of the newborns died, and six infants have been admitted to a super speciality hospital for further treatment, they said.

The hospital has three neonatal units on the third floor with a combined capacity of 39 newborns, officials said. Nine infants were in the affected unit when the fire broke out, they said.

Amravati Deputy Commissioner of Police Shyam Ghuge told the media that the fire was confined to one room of the NICU and was extinguished within about 30 minutes. "There was a technical fault in the thermal unit, following which the fire broke out," he said. "The attendants immediately took out the nine babies from the room, of whom three died."

Ghuge said a further investigation would be conducted to establish the exact cause of the fire. "We will conduct a further investigation to ascertain why the fire broke out and whether all the required fire-safety norms were being followed at the government hospital," he said. "The technical equipment involved in the incident, as well as the fire-safety arrangements at the hospital, are likely to be examined as part of the probe."

District surgeon Dr Vinod Pawar said one infant was critical with burns, while three others had minor burns and were stable, according to a Loksatta report. The neonatal unit, functional in the hospital's new building for just over a year, treats premature, low-birth-weight and critically ill newborns, the report said.

NCP leader Supriya Sule demanded a thorough investigation and said strict action should be taken against those responsible. In a post on X, she called the incident a "glaring example of negligence in the system."

The incident follows a fire in the NICU of Chhindwara District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday in which three newborns sustained burn injuries, according to an ANI report. The timely response of the hospital staff helped save several other newborns, officials said.

(With inputs from PTI)