Indian police said on Monday they had arrested a doctor and the owner of an unlicensed hospital where died when a fire erupted in a crowded ward without fire exits. The blaze broke out at the New Born Baby Care hospital in New Delhi’s Vivek Vihar area late Saturday evening. In the crucial first minutes, bystanders spotted the fire and braved the blaze to rescue the newborns inside.
“We didn’t even name her [...
] I never even held her in my arms,” Anjar Khan, whose 11-day-old daughter died in the blaze, was quoted as saying by the . Vinod Sharma, who lost his day-old baby boy, blamed the hospital authorities for the tragedy. “He had a problem with breathing.
The doctor had said that he will be fine in a few days,” Sharma was quoted as saying by newspaper. “We didn’t know that the hospital would kill him.” Fires are common in India due to poor building practices, overcrowding and a lack of adherence to safety regulations.
The narrow two-storey hospital building was squeezed between a row of homes, without space on either side, making it hard for fire engines to reach. “We were trying to control the fire, but there was no way to enter the building and rescue the 12 babies who were trapped,” local fire officer Atul Garg told reporters. Senior police officer Surendra Chaudhary told that the hospital did “not have a fire exit system”.
Its licence expired in March and the owner filled the ward with more than twice the number of beds it previously had permis.
