NA health panel visits PIMS, says fire in nursery may have been caused by 'technical fault'

Members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said on Thursday that the fire at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), which claimed the lives of 14 infants, may have been caused by a “technical fault”.

Earlier, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal attributed to Wednesday’s incident to a spark in the air conditioner.

But standing committee chairperson Mahesh Kumar Malani told the media in Islamabad that “we have to see whether the fire was the result of negligence or a natural cause. It appears that there may have been a technical fault”.

He added that the source of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

“Some said that a spark was caused by an old air conditioner, [but] it had not been working for some time. The other two were portable,” he said.

Malani said one of the doctors had stated that a spark was caused by a bundle of wires while the nurses said it all happened suddenly. “So no one saw where the spark came from. We have concluded that no one knows the source of the fire.”

He recalled it was earlier stated that the presence of oxygen caused the fire to spread, adding that it was a possibility that there was a fault in the oxygen pipes.

However, “one thing is final, no one knows the source of the fire”, he reiterated, adding that the hospital’s executive director also agreed that the spark had not originated from the air conditioner.

“Nevertheless, there was a fault (somewhere),” Malani continued, suggesting that it could either have been in “oxygen pipes or the electricity wiring”.

He noted that the nursery where the incident took place was built in 1990 and stressed that there should not have been a nursery in the old building, particularly when there was a newly built block available on the premises.

“The nursery was not fit for the babies. This was supposed to be a gynae ward, and the babies should have been kept in the new block which was well-equipped,” he said.

Malani told reporters that the standing committee had sought answers from the hospital administration on certain questions.

“We are calling a committee meeting and will look at the issue on the grounds of merit,” he said, adding that the committee would also study the findings to be presented by a separate inquiry committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz within 24-48 hours.

Standing next to Malani, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party MNA Gul Asghar Khan said, “We have also asked Pims how often fire drills are carried out in the hospital and when the last drill was undertaken.”

He added that the committee had also sought information on Pims’ last fire audit as well as human errors which may have led to the incident and the reported presence of oxygen in the atmosphere at the time of the fire.

PPP MNA Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro added that the committee had also requested information on the functionality of fire alarms at the hospital.

Taking note of “conflicting statements” by the staff, she said they suggested that “either there was no one on duty, or if they were on duty, they were somewhere outside”.

She demanded that the Pims executive director, as well as the health minister, step down on “moral grounds”.

Responding to a question, Malani said that “technical experts” should also be consulted in determining the cause of the fire.

He, too, took note of the conflicting accounts by the staff.

“The gynae head told me that there was a bundle of wires in the ward, while someone said there may have been an oxygen cylinder that exploded”, he said, adding, “How could an oxygen cylinder have exploded when there weren’t any?”

So, the source of the fire was not yet known, he said.

Malani said the committee would examine “whether the right person was appointed for the right job” to ascertain any technical faults.

Pakistan Muslim League’s lawmaker Farakh Khan also spoke on the occasion and raised concerns about whether the nursery had undergone any maintenance over the years.

“If any maintenance had been carried out, why was an old AC still installed in the room and why was wiring left exposed?” she questioned, adding that if the administration could not manage the nursery, “they should finish it off”.

Malani then said the committee had sought information on the budget of Pims’ Mother and Child Health Care Centre, and about “how much of it was utilised”.

He said details about the number of times the oxygen and electricity systems were examined had specifically been sought.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl MNA Aliya Kamran said when the committee members spoke to the nurses, “it appeared as if they had been told what to say”.

She said the staff had left the infants unattended as the fire broke out.

“We are also not satisfied with the account the doctor on duty gave us,” she added.

She claimed there was a “deliberate attempt” to push the narrative that the blaze had originated from the AC. Kamran said that the NA committee would call the hospital administration and “question them within our capacity and present a fair opinion”.

Echoing her fellows’ remarks, Kamran demanded that the health minister resign. “The inquiry team will not be able to maintain transparency if he is in power,” she said and further demanded that the on-duty staff be suspended and their medical licences be revoked.