Islamabad (Pakistan), 26 Aug. (LaPresse) – An immediate investigation has been ordered in Pakistan into the circumstances of a fire at an Islamabad hospital that killed 14 newborns. The Islamabad District Magistrate has appointed an inter-institutional commission of inquiry to submit a report within 24 hours. The commission, according to a government statement, will investigate the causes of the fire and its spread, determine whether adequate fire safety measures were in place, and evaluate the emergency response. In addition to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed their condolences to the families. Sharif ordered an immediate investigation, and Zardari i called for those responsible to be identified and prosecuted under the law, urging hospitals to ensure effective firefighting measures and emergency procedures, particularly in newborn wards. Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told local channel Geo News that he is traveling from Karachi to Islamabad to personally oversee the investigation and added that the Director General of Health and the Federal Secretary of Health are already on site. According to Kamal, officials were in contact with the families; the immediate priority, he said, was to provide support to parents and return the bodies of the newborns to them.
Pakistan orders immediate investigation into hospital fire that killed 14 newborns
Islamabad (Pakistan), 26 Aug. (LaPresse) – An immediate investigation has been ordered in Pakistan into the circumstances of a fire at an Islamabad hospital that killed 14 newborns. The Islamabad District Magistrate has appointed an inter-institutional commission of inquiry to submit a report within 24 hours. The commission, according to a government statement, will investigate the causes of the fire and its spread, determine whether adequate fire safety measures were in place, and evaluate the emergency response. In addition to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed their condolences to the families. Sharif ordered an immediate investigation, and Zardari i called for those responsible to be identified and prosecuted under the law, urging hospitals to ensure effective firefighting measures and emergency procedures, particularly in newborn wards. Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told local channel Geo News that he is traveling from Karachi to Islamabad to personally oversee the investigation and added that the Director General of Health and the Federal Secretary of Health are already on site. According to Kamal, officials were in contact with the families; the immediate priority, he said, was to provide support to parents and return the bodies of the newborns to them.