Bhandara hospital fire: Parents blame staff for dereliction

Many parents whose newbornbabies were among those dead in the Bhandara hospital firehave blamed the staff there for dereliction of duty.Ten babies died after the fire broke out on Saturdayat the Special Newborn Care Unit of the four-storeyed districthospital in Maharashtras Bhandara district town, about 900 kmfrom the state capital Mumbai.Kin of Geeta and Vishwanath Behere, whose two month-old daughter was among the 10 newborn babies who perished inthe blaze, blamed the hospital authorities for dereliction ofduty.They claimed that no doctor or nurse was present inthe unit when fire broke out.

Many parents whose newbornbabies were among those dead in the Bhandara hospital firehave blamed the staff there for dereliction of duty.

Ten babies died after the fire broke out on Saturdayat the Special Newborn Care Unit of the four-storeyed districthospital in Maharashtra's Bhandara district town, about 900 kmfrom the state capital Mumbai.

Kin of Geeta and Vishwanath Behere, whose two month-old daughter was among the 10 newborn babies who perished inthe blaze, blamed the hospital authorities for dereliction ofduty.

They claimed that no doctor or nurse was present inthe unit when fire broke out. They blamed the hospitaladministration for the tragedy and sought action against thoseresponsible.

Vandana Sidam from Ravanwadi in Bhandara district gavebirth to a girl at Pahela primary health centre on January 3.

The baby was shifted to the district hospital unit as itsweight was below normal.

Family members of Vandana, whose husband was workingin Pune when the tragedy happened, have blamed the hospitalauthorities for the fire and sought action against officialswho they claim ignored safety norms.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who has ordered aprobe into the incident, is scheduled to visit Bhandara onSunday and meet hospital officials and parents of the victims.

A district official said the fire broke out around1.30 am. At the time, there were two nurses and a helper inthe childrens ward and they immediately raised an alarm.

The fire brigade was called out and before it arrived,staffers tried to rescue the children and managed to saveseven infants.

Bhandara District Health Officer Prashant Uike saidthe SNCU is a 36-bed ward. The ages of the deceased childrenranged between a few days to a few months.

Civil Surgeon Pramod Khandate said most newborns dieddue to suffocation. ''One baby had fatal burn injuries, and twoothers had minor burns injuries. The rest inhaled a lot ofsmoke,'' he said.