Fire at Amravati Hospital: 12 infants in NICU rescued

Amravati: In a major fire that broke out at District Women Hospital's special newborn care unit in Amravati city, 12 infants kept on ventilator support in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were rescued unhurt. 

Officials said that the incident occurred around 11 am at the District Women Hospital in Amravati city in eastern Maharashtra.

At the time of the incident, the unit had 37 newborn children, more than its capacity of 25. Twelve of the newborns on ventilator support were rescued later, and the remaining 25 infants were shifted to other wards of the hospital.

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"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 super specialty hospital and other facilities immediately, PTI reports.

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 on the incident within 24 hours.

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

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

However, it was reported that one of the ventilators was not working properly from Saturday night. After the issue was reported to the hospital, the authorities paid no attention and now questions are being raised regarding the safety measures at the hospital.

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