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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 9:59:04 pm

Fatal Negligence

Newborns dying in a fire inside a government hospital is a devastating indictment of a system that is supposed to protect its most vulnerable patients. The Amravati District Women’s Hospital tragedy, where a blaze killed three infants, joins a long list of preventable institutional failures. Thirty-nine babies were inside the three-compartment facility when the fire erupted after a ventilator in the neonatal unit caught fire. Thirty-six were eventually rescued. Parents and eyewitnesses have...

Fatal Negligence

Newborns dying in a fire inside a government hospital is a devastating indictment of a system that is supposed to protect its most vulnerable patients. The Amravati District Women’s Hospital tragedy, where a blaze killed three infants, joins a long list of preventable institutional failures. Thirty-nine babies were inside the three-compartment facility when the fire erupted after a ventilator in the neonatal unit caught fire. Thirty-six were eventually rescued. Parents and eyewitnesses have alleged that the fire alarms did not sound and the automatic sprinklers failed to activate even as the district administration has said the hospital underwent regular fire audits and had applied for this year’s audit. An audit is meaningful only if it establishes that equipment works when lives depend on it. Maharashtra has already witnessed the deadly consequences of fire-safety failures in public hospitals. In 2021, eleven Covid-19 patients died in a fire at the Ahmednagar district hospital even though a fire audit conducted months earlier had recommended a firefighting system. The Amravati tragedy demands more than the familiar ritual of a high-level inquiry, compensation and promises of “strictest action”. The announcement of ex gratia payments cannot compensate parents who have lost a child they had barely begun to know. The investigation must establish not merely what ignited the fire, but why it was allowed to become fatal. Was the ventilator properly maintained? Were electrical and medical devices routinely inspected? Did alarms function? Were sprinklers operational? Was the NICU appropriately located and equipped for evacuation? Were staff trained and drills conducted? And most importantly, who was responsible for ensuring that every safeguard worked? There is another troubling detail: the neonatal unit was reportedly housed on the third floor, rather than at ground level, and questions have arisen over whether the unit was part of the building’s original plan. The state has built an elaborate architecture of laws and child-protection standards which seldom matches the situation on ground. Whether in government hospitals, schools or anganwadis, safety has become a box to be ticked rather than a responsibility to be lived. The most vulnerable children are consequently left dependent not on systems, but on the vigilance and heroism of individual staff members. That is an appalling way to run the childcare infrastructure of one India’s most developed states. A NICU is perhaps the worst possible place for institutional complacency: its patients are immobile, medically dependent and extraordinarily vulnerable to smoke, heat and even brief disruption of life-support equipment. The government must ensure that the Amravati deaths do not become another entry in the grim ledger of hospital tragedies followed by inquiries, outrage and forgetting. The real test will be whether the state can prevent the next newborn from dying in a hospital that was supposed to save him.

Omar Abdullah expresses regret over Pahalgam attack, says he failed as host


Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday, April 28, expressed deep regret over the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, admitting he had failed in his responsibility to ensure the safety of visiting tourists.


Speaking at a special session of the Assembly convened to condemn the attack, Abdullah said the tragedy had left the entire nation deeply shaken.

"This incident has impacted the entire country. We have witnessed such attacks in the past, but one of this magnitude has occurred after 21 years in Baisaran," Abdullah said. "I do not know how to apologise to the families of the victims. As their host, it was my duty to ensure they returned home safely — and I failed. I lack the words to seek forgiveness," he added.


Addressing the political context, Abdullah said, "I will not use this tragedy to demand statehood. After what happened in Pahalgam, how can I face the Centre and ask for statehood for Jammu and Kashmir? Is my politics so cheap? We have raised the demand for statehood in the past and will continue to do so, but it would be shameful to raise it now when 26 people have lost their lives."


Pahalgam Terror Attack

The terror strike occurred on April 22 in the Baisaran valley near Pahalgam, killing 26 people, most of them tourists. The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an offshoot of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, initially claimed responsibility but later retracted the statement.


In response, the Indian government announced a series of strong diplomatic actions against Pakistan, escalating tensions further. These included suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, revoking visas for Pakistani nationals, and shutting down the Attari land transit post. On the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, India also blocked several Pakistani YouTube channels accused of spreading provocative and misleading narratives following the attack.


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