Among the 14 infants who died in Wednesday’s fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad was a two-month-old boy who had remained unclaimed at the hospital since birth, living there among other sick children until his death. His body still remains in the hospital mortuary.
The infant was born on June 21 to a girl believed to be around 15 years old, according to a female doctor at PIMS who spoke on condition of anonymity. The girl reportedly lacked documentation proving her marriage. Hospital staff had asked her husband and grandmother to provide proof, but when they were unable to produce it, they left the baby behind and never returned, the doctor told Dawn. Police had been involved in the case since birth, refusing to release the baby to the family without proof of marriage, with the matter formally reported for medico-legal follow-up. “It had been two months, and the baby was growing in the [Mother and Child Health] nursery among sick babies,” the doctor said.
Another doctor told Dawn the infant had spent his short life in an environment carrying a high risk of infection, and had been deprived of the care necessary for normal neurocognitive development. “Every child has a right to an identity, citizenship and a family in order to become a healthy member of society. That baby was fed and clothed through donations,” he said, adding that hospital staff had made every effort to facilitate the child’s adoption, but police had not followed up on the case in the two months since. According to hospital records, the infant was listed only as “baby of ‘H’,” though staff had informally named him Ali. “Now, his dead body is in the mortuary. Only his legal heirs can receive the body,” the doctor said.
The Fire at PIMS
Fourteen babies died Wednesday after a fire broke out in the Mother and Child Health ward at PIMS. The health minister said the blaze began with a spark in the air conditioning unit, while grieving families said rescue teams arrived too late.
According to a hospital statement, the fire was initially caused by a spark inside the nursery at 6:38am, which within seconds erupted into a major blaze due to oxygen points at each incubator. Two doctors and two nurses on duty in the nursery responded immediately and called for security staff, who attempted twice to enter and remove the babies before a large explosion occurred at 6:39am, collapsing the ceiling. Several witnesses, their hands and faces blackened by smoke, told AFP they waited hours for emergency services and had to break windows to reach the ward after finding some doors locked, an account the hospital and government have since denied.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif quickly formed an inquiry committee and removed Federal Health Secretary Muhammad Aslam Ghauri from his post. Separately, a notification from the Islamabad district magistrate confirmed the formation of a seven-member fact-finding committee, headed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner General, to establish the facts behind the fire.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, the health minister said he would present himself to his superiors for accountability, adding that the incident was being investigated by experts and multiple institutions, and that “nothing will remain hidden and all facts will be unearthed.” The incident has sparked outrage across the political spectrum, with widespread demands for accountability and sharp criticism of the hospital administration.
