By Urdu Report Editorial Team
A nurse at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad saved the only newborn who survived a fire that killed 14 babies in the hospital’s nursery on August 26.
Nurse Razia Noreen was working in the children’s ward and had completed an overnight shift. She was waiting for the staff arriving for the next shift and preparing to leave for home when the fire broke out.
Fire broke out at 6:38am
At 6:38am, flames erupted in the hospital nursery. The fire spread rapidly and resulted in the deaths of 14 newborn babies.
There were 15 newborns in the nursery at the time. Only one child survived.
Noreen was among the staff present during the incident. According to her account, she went back toward the nursery in an attempt to help, but the fire had become too intense.
“I went back, but the fire was too much,” she said.
The incident occurred at PIMS, Pakistan’s federal government hospital in Islamabad, where the nursery was operating with 15 newborn babies when the fire started.
The circumstances surrounding the rapid spread of the fire and the response to the emergency have since raised questions.
A fact-finding inquiry and CCTV footage have also been examined as part of efforts to establish what happened during the incident.
