UP hospital fire: Rescued newborn dies of illness; toll reaches 11

A newborn rescued from a fire that engulfed a children’s ward at a government hospital in Jhansi died due to illness on Sunday, officials said.

With this, 11 newborns who were admitted to the NICU at Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College have died. Ten of them died after the fire broke out in the ward on Friday night.

One newborn who was shifted from NICU to PICU died during treatment for an illness. The boy did not sustain any burn injuries in the fire, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.

“Till Saturday, the number of deaths was 10 and that of children undergoing treatment at the NICU in Jhansi Medical College was 38. None of these children are undergoing treatment for burn injuries. They were rescued by the hospital staff,” he said.

“Among these 38 children, the condition of three was critical. Of these three newborns, one died on Sunday. However, he did not die due to burn injury,” the DM added.

Kumar told reporters that he inspected the hospital on Sunday and enquired about the well-being of the children admitted to the PICU. He also spoke to their family members.

“I have spoken to the doctors. The condition of the children is stated to be stable,” he said.

The DM further said that the bodies of the newborns who died in the fire have been handed over to their families.

“One child is with us. A family is claiming the child. We are doing a verification. No child is missing,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday formed a four-member committee to investigate the hospital fire.

The committee has been tasked with identifying the cause of the fire and determining whether there was any negligence. The government has sought its report within seven days.