Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Thursday visited Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), stating the fire that resulted in the deaths of 14 infants may have been caused by a “technical fault.”
Speaking to media after their examination, committee chairperson Mahesh Kumar Malani said it was too soon to say whether the fire was caused by negligence or a natural cause. “It appears that there may have been a technical fault,” he said, noting the exact cause remained uncertain.
“Some said that a spark was caused by an old air conditioner, [but] it had not been working for some time. The other two were portable,” he said, adding one doctor had suggested sparking due to faulty wiring.
“No one saw where the spark came from. We have concluded that no one knows the source of the fire,” he said, adding it was possible a fault in oxygen pipes had resulted in the inferno. He claimed the hospital’s executive director had also said the spark did not originate from the air conditioner.
“Nevertheless, there was a fault (somewhere),” he said.
According to Malani, the nursery where the fire occurred was built in 1990, adding the old building should not have had any nursery. “The nursery was not fit for the babies. This was supposed to be a gynecology ward, and the babies should have been kept in the new block which was well-equipped,” he said, maintaining the committee had sought answers from the hospital administration.
“We are calling a committee meeting and will look at the issue on the grounds of merit,” he said. The committee, he said, would study the findings to be presented by a separate inquiry committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz.
Another member of the committee, MNA Gul Asghar Khan, said they had asked PIMS to share how often they conducted fire drills, as well as their last fire audit.
A third member of the committee noted “conflicting statements” from staff, saying this suggested that “either there was no one on duty, or if they were on duty, they were somewhere outside.” She said the PIMS executive director as well as the federal health minister should resign on moral grounds.
Further, Malani said the committee has asked PIMS its budgetary allocation, as well as how much of it was utilized and for what purpose.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) MNA Aliya Kamran said it appeared the nurses were coached on their responses, alleging the staff had left the infants unattended when the fire broke out.
A day earlier, 14 babies died after a fire erupted in the Mother and Child Hospital’s ward at PIMS. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has claimed it was caused by sparking from an old AC. Families of the victims, meanwhile, have alleged there was no staff on duty at the time of the incident.