Maharashtra: Ten newborn babies die in Bhandara hospital fire

Ten newborn babies died afterfire broke out in the Special Newborn Care Unit of a hospitalin Maharashtra in the wee hours on Saturday, doctors said.The infants were aged between a month and threemonths, a doctor said.District civil surgeon Pramod Khandate said fire brokeout at the Bhandara district hospital at around 1.30 am.

Ten newborn babies died afterfire broke out in the Special Newborn Care Unit of a hospitalin Maharashtra in the wee hours on Saturday, doctors said.

The infants were aged between a month and threemonths, a doctor said.

District civil surgeon Pramod Khandate said fire brokeout at the Bhandara district hospital at around 1.30 am. Therewere 17 babies in the unit and seven were rescued, he added.

A nurse first noticed smoke coming out from theneonatal section of the hospital and alerted doctors and otherstaff who reached there in five minutes, he said.

Fire brigade personnel rescued seven babies from the'inbound ward' of the unit but could not save the 10 otherbabies, he said.

Khandate said the ward where newborn babies are keptrequires a continuous supply of oxygen. ''There were fireextinguishers and staff used them while trying to douse thefire. There was too much smoke,'' he added.

Parents of the deceased children have been informedand the seven newborn babies rescued in the blaze have beenshifted to another ward, he said.

Patients from the ICU ward, dialysis wing and labourward (a room in a hospital set aside for childbirth) were alsoshifted to otherwards safely, he added.

The cause of the fire in the four-storeyed building isyet to be ascertained but could have been the result of anelectrical short circuit, he said.