Fire at Chhindwara hospital NICU claims newborn's life, injures two
A newborn died and two others were injured in a fire that broke out inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the government district hospital in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. According to officials, the fire was caused by sparks in the filament coil of a radiant warmer machine, which is used to keep newborns warm during intensive care.
Hospital staff and security personnel evacuated 30 of the 33 babies in the affected NICU unit, using fire extinguishers to douse the flames. The three infants who were on the warmer plate sustained burn injuries; one of them, a girl, succumbed. The other two were referred to the government medical college in Jabalpur for further treatment and are reported to be stable.
Officials say incident was an accident, cite congenital condition
The infant who died had a congenital heart problem, according to Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Archna Kaithawas. The Hindu reported that the deceased newborn had dextrocardia, a condition in which the heart is located on the right side of the chest. This detail was not mentioned in the Free Press Journal's report.
Hospital in-charge and Civil Surgeon Dr Kanchan Dubey denied any negligence on the part of hospital staff, describing the incident as an accident. "There were a total of 33 children there and these three were placed on the same warmer. Our staff, including nurses, acted with promptness and saved the other 30 children," she said. She added that the machine was on annual maintenance and no technical fault had been detected.
Dr Dubey also explained that the hospital has two NICU units—one for referred babies and one for those delivered in the hospital. The unit where the fire occurred housed 33 children, while the other had 30.
No paediatric surgeon prompted referral to Jabalpur
District hospital paediatrician Dr Anshul Lamba said the three infants were referred to Jabalpur because the hospital lacks a paediatric surgeon. "After the primary treatment, surgical inspection was conducted by specialists and opinion was taken. Since we do not have a paediatric surgeon, we referred them," he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
Investigation ordered
District Collector Harendra Mishra said an investigation has been ordered into the incident, and the maintenance agency responsible for the machine has been notified. The civil surgeon will probe the cause of the fire, according to officials.