Chhindwara NICU fire: One infant dead, two injured, probe ordered
An infant died and two newborns suffered burn injuries after a fire broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the government district hospital in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, early Saturday, officials said. The incident occurred around 1:50 a.m. when a radiant warmer machine in the unit caught fire due to sparks in its filament coil, they said.
Hospital in-charge and civil surgeon Kanchan Dubey said the three infants were placed on the same warmer. "Our staff, including nurses, acted with promptness and saved the other 30 children. They were initially moved to another unit and after technicians and electricians inspected all other machines, the children were shifted back to the NICU," she said, terming the tragedy an accident and denying any negligence on the part of hospital staff.
District paediatrician Anshul Lamba said the children were referred to the government medical college in Jabalpur for better treatment, as the district hospital has no paediatric surgeon. "There was a short circuit in the coil. The problem is that the oxygen tubing also runs from that very area. The short circuit produced sparks, which fell on the oxygen tubing, and caused fire in the cradle. The staff managed to bring out the three children from the cradle within 15 seconds but due to the foam mattress, they suffered burn injuries," he explained.
Chhindwara Collector Harendra Narayan Mishra said an investigation has been ordered and the civil surgeon will probe the cause. He noted that the machine had undergone annual maintenance on August 10 and no fault had been detected. "But since a tragedy has happened, we have informed the maintenance agency in Bhopal. Their engineers will visit the hospital soon for an inspection," he said.
Mr. Mishra said the deceased child was born with dextrocardia, a congenital condition in which the heart is on the right side of the chest. One of the two injured newborns was born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a surgical condition. "I spoke to the Medical Superintendent in the evening and the other two children are stable," he said.
The collector also revealed that there were 63 infants in the NICU at the time — 30 in the inborn unit and 33 in the outborn unit, where the fire took place. Only 27 warmer machines were available, forcing the hospital to accommodate two or three children in one cradle. "Government hospitals usually receive heavy footfall and since most patients are from rural or poor backgrounds, the hospital has to accommodate them all," he said.
A relative of one of the affected children alleged negligence on the part of the hospital staff. The relative said the incident could have been avoided if proper safety measures had been in place. Officials, however, maintained that it was an accident. The district administration has ordered an inquiry into the incident, and the civil surgeon will investigate the cause behind the fire.
