Pakistan suspends eight officials over hospital fire that killed 14 babies

Interim inquiry finds lack of fire safety protocols at Islamabad hospital, prompting suspensions and criminal probe.Pakistan’s prime minister has ordered the suspension of eight officials and directed criminal proceedings against them after a fire killed 14 babies in the neonatal ward of a government-run hospital in the capital.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued the orders after an investigative committee presented its interim report on the fire at Islamabad’s Pakistan-institute-of-medical-sciences" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="190266" data-entity-type="location">Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), his office said in a statement on Saturday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Pakistan’s army chief back in Iran: Can he break peace talks deadlock?list 2 of 3Give Imran Khan proper medical care, cricket legends urge Pakistani gov’tlist 3 of 3‘Where’s the humanity?’: Imran Khan’s sons fear for jailed ex-Pakistan PMend of listThe blaze broke out shortly before 7am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the Mother and Child Healthcare Centre, sparking inside the nursery before spreading rapidly through oxygen outlets fitted at each incubator.The fire was confined to a third-floor nursery, but officials said it spread so quickly that staff were able to rescue only one baby from among the 15 being cared for there.“The deaths of these innocent children are a heartbreaking tragedy that has left the entire nation grieving,” Sharif said in a statement, promising that those responsible would face “exemplary punishment”.The eight suspended officials, named in a statement from the prime minister’s office, include the hospital’s executive director, two joint executive directors, the head of its neonatal department, two senior doctors, a security official, and the head of the Capital Development Authority’s emergency services.Sharif also approved action against a company responsible for hospital security and its officials.He has appointed the National Institutes of Health’s chief executive as PIMS’s acting director in the interim.The interim inquiry presented to the prime minister this week found that the hospital had no meaningful fire safety protocols in place, and only two of PIMS’s 13 standard operating procedures addressed fire or emergencies.