Hyderabad: Three infants, including a two-day and a five-day-old baby, died after a fire broke out due to a suspected short circuit in the air-conditioning unit at the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Adilabad late Monday night. Two other infants who sustained injuries are also in a critical condition, hospital authorities said.While one of them is on ventilator, another is on oxygen support.Officials said that the remaining 22 newborns, who were safely evacuated from the SNCU, have either been shifted to nearby private hospitals, or are being treated at RIMS. Their condition is stable.“All the rescued newborns are being closely monitored. Those requiring oxygen support are being provided the same, and we are keeping a close watch on their condition,” said Dr P Sadhana, district medical & health officer (DM&HO), Adilabad.It is suspected that the three “extreme preterm infants”, all of them girls, died due to asphyxiation.According to preliminary probe, the fire broke out around 11.40 pm while the 27 newborns and their attendants were present inside the unit. Though the exact cause is yet to be established, it is suspected that an electrical short circuit in a window AC triggered the fire.While one of the newborns died within an hour of the incident, two others died later on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Nizamabad and RIMS, respectively, in the early hours of Tuesday.“The fire resulted in the entire ward quickly filling up with smoke as the plastic from the AC burnt. We managed to contain the fire by 3am,” said D Jayatram, station fire officer (SFO), Adilabad.Based on the initial probe, the Adilabad police booked a case of unnatural or suspicious death under Section 194 of the BNSS and started an investigation.Dr Sadhana said that while 23 children were in the SNCU, four others were in a nearby ward. “As they were preterm babies, they were already in a weak condition and a few of them lost consciousness immediately due to smoke or toxic-fume inhalation,” she added.According to her, two of the deceased infants were born at 28 weeks and weighed around 1.3kg each, while the third, who was 15 days old was born at 25 weeks and weighed around 1kg. Their families belonged to surrounding mandals of Utnoor, Ichoda and Indravelli in Nizamabad.Health officials said there was a problem with the AC, which was repaired about a week ago. “Fire and electrical safety audits had also been conducted at the hospital. Around Rs 5 crore had been spent on works at the hospital, while Rs 1 crore was sanctioned for AC-related works. A meeting was scheduled later this month to discuss replacing the existing ACs with new ones,” an official said.Inquiry orderedMeanwhile, expressing grief over the incident, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy ordered an inquiry and directed officials to submit a report on the cause of the fire.Health minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, who visited the affected newborn ward at RIMS, announced that a committee comprising experts would be constituted to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the fire incident. He added that three safety audits – electrical, fire and civil structural – would be conducted at RIMS.The minister also assured that strict action would be taken against anyone found responsible for negligence or lapses during the inquiry.“The committee would examine the causes of the accident, safety lapses and maintenance failures, and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in the future. Comprehensive proposals would be submitted to the government based on the expert committee’s reports regarding electrical, fire and civil structural safety audits. These proposals will cover necessary repairs, additional infrastructure, renovation works, new building construction and the recruitment of additional staff at RIMS. All aspects concerning potential lapses in maintenance, monitoring and the implementation of safety standards at RIMS would be thoroughly examined,” the minister added.
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