Two-day-old girl is killed when incubator bursts into flames at Pakistani hospital
- Incubator short circuited causing smoke to suffocate the baby girl inside
- Tragedy happened at Karachi National Institute of Child Health in Pakistan
- Girl’s parents took the body home before medical enquiries were completed
A two-day-old baby girl has died after her incubator burst into flames at a Pakistani hospital.
The infant was reportedly suffocated by smoke after the machine suffered a short circuit at the Karachi National Institute of Child Health hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the country.
The baby girl’s parents took the body away before police completed medico-legal formalities, and the hospital has launched an internal inquiry.
The infant was reportedly suffocated by smoke after the machine suffered a short circuit in Karachi National Institute of Child Health hospital
The hospital’s executive director, Dr Jamal Raza, told Dawn the ‘malfunction of equipment possibly led to an incident of fire in the surgical ward’.
‘The fire was controlled swiftly with an extinguisher and patients were evacuated. However, the baby in the incubator could not survive.’
An inquiry committee has been put together by the Sindh health department, reports Pakistan Today, and will need to file its report within three days.
The hospital in the city-centre contains 500 beds, it says on its website, and is the only children’s hospital in Sindh province.
The hospital also provides care for children’s diseases, and is equipped to diagnose a number of illnesses.
A probe is being carried out by the hospital, which is expected to report back within three days. The girl’s body was taken away by her parents