Hospital fire: 2-month-old girl victim was set for discharge By Charles Salve

The gloom in the Beherehousehold in Sonzari Tola in Bhandara's Bhojpur area and thepain in the eyes of the people assembled there, especially inthat of a 20-year-old tribal woman, is unbearable.

The baby daughter of the Beheres was supposed to bedischarged in eight days from the Bhandara district hospital,but the fire tragedy has turned their world upside down.

A baby girl who had brought joy to Geeta andVishwanath Behere (22), despite being born underweight at aprivate hospital on November 10 last year, was one of the 10infants who died after a fire broke out in the childcare unitof the state-run Bhandara district hospital in the earlyhours of Saturday.

The child was 830 grams when she was born and herstint at the Special Newborn Care Unit, to which she wasshifted on the day she was born, was having a positive effecton her health and she was supposed to be discharged in eightdays, a sobbing Vishwanath said.

''Her weight had increased to 1.3 kilograms and a nursehad told us that our baby would be discharged when she weighed1.5 kilograms. Geeta had got to see the infant at 4 pmyesterday and today we get the news of the fire. It hasdestroyed us,'' he said.

''We had not even named our daughter and now we havegot her burnt dead body,'' Vishwanath, who is a labourer, saidamid the wails and sobs from those present, including hishomemaker wife.

The girl was cremated after the couple left thehospital, he said, adding that no one had communicatedanything so far about compensation for their devastating loss.

Geeta, meanwhile, was too traumatised to speak, withkin and neighbours assembled around her to offer comfort.