An interim inquiry into the Islamabad blaze found serious fire-safety and emergency-preparedness failures, while the exact ignition source remains under investigation.
Pakistan’s government has suspended eight officials and ordered disciplinary and criminal proceedings after a fire killed 14 newborns at a nursery in Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the action Saturday, August 29, after receiving an interim report from a government-appointed inquiry committee examining the August 26 fire. Fifteen babies were in the third-floor nursery; one was rescued, according to officials.
The interim report identified what it described as serious preliminary failures in fire and life-safety preparation, including shortcomings involving alarms, firefighting arrangements, emergency procedures, staff preparedness and coordination with outside responders. It said the nursery lacked a detailed, practiced evacuation plan tailored to newborn patients.
The report did not reach a final conclusion on what ignited the blaze. It said an electrical or equipment-related cause remained plausible, but that forensic and technical work was still needed to determine whether an incubator, warmer, air conditioner, wiring, socket or another component was the source.
The suspended officials include senior PIMS administrators, neonatal department personnel, a hospital security official and the head of the Capital Development Authority’s emergency service. The government also approved action against the hospital’s contracted security company.
Investigators said the fire became visible shortly after 6:38 a.m. and rapidly filled the nursery with smoke. The inquiry found that frontline medical, nursing and security personnel made rescue attempts, rather than broadly abandoning the infants. It reserved final findings on individual responsibility for a fuller report.
The government has announced compensation of 5 million Pakistani rupees for each bereaved family. Authorities have also ordered wider reviews of hospital fire-safety systems and emergency-response capacity.
