Hyderabad: Short circuit at Shine Hospital kills newborn

Hyderabad: Short circuit at Shine Hospital kills newborn. A newborn child was charred to death in a fire that broke out in a private hospital at LB Nagar in Hyderabad in the wee hours of Monday. At least five other newborns received burns in the incident. The fire broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Shine Children's hospital. Short circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire

According to officials, there were at least six newborns under observation in the incubators in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) ward located on the third floor of the hospital building. Around 3 am, a fire broke out in the ward. Soon it spread all over and affected the incubators also. A five-month-old child placed in the incubator was burnt alive, while other children received injuries.

Fireteams rushed to the spot. They entered the ward from the outside by breaking open the glasses and rescued other children. The children who sustained burns were shifted to another hospital for treatment.

A short circuit in one of the incubators or the cabling is suspected of having lead to the fire. The incident exposes the poor state of safety and preventive measures at private hospitals. A case has been registered. It is being probed if the hospital had fire safety equipment in place and if it had requisite permissions from the authorities concerned. The probe is also on to know about the presence of hospital staff in the ward at the time of the incident and bow could they not notice the fire and raise an emergency alarm, to prevent the fire.