12 infants rescued after fire in hospital ICU in Maharashtra’s Amravati

Amravati, September 25

Twelve infants kept on ventilator support in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a government-run hospital here were rescued unhurt after a fire broke there out on Sunday, officials said.

The incident occurred around 11 am at the District Women Hospital in Amravati city in eastern Maharashtra, they said.

“The hospital staff noticed smoke coming out from the neonatal ICU. They immediately informed the fire brigade and rescued 12 newborn babies, who were kept there on ventilator support, in time and avoided a major tragedy,” a district official said.

The fire tenders reached in time and doused the blaze, which broke out apparently due to a short circuit in one of the ventilators, he said.

“No infant was injured in the incident,” the official said, adding that the rescued babies were shifted to a superspeciality hospital and other facilities immediately.

According to the official, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was newly appointed as the guardian minister of the district, directed the authorities to submit a report over the incident within 24 hours.

District collector Pavneet Kaur set up a committee headed by the district civil surgeon to investigate the incident, he said.

On January 9, 2021, at least 10 newborn babies had died after a fire broke out at the neonatal care ward of the district general hospital at Bhandara in eastern Maharashtra.