The cause of the fire that killed 14 newborns at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) remains uncertain, with a National Assembly committee saying conflicting accounts have emerged over what triggered the blaze.
Speaking to reporters after an unofficial visit to PIMS on Thursday, National Assembly health committee chairman Dr Mahesh Kumar said investigators had been told that a spark from an old air-conditioning unit started the fire. However, the committee subsequently learned that the AC had reportedly not been operational for a long time.
Kumar said CCTV footage also failed to establish that the air conditioner was the source of the blaze.
“We have reached the conclusion that the source of the fire was not known to anyone,” he said.
The fire erupted early Wednesday on the third floor of the Mother and Child Hospital at PIMS, where 15 newborns were being cared for. Fourteen suffered severe burns and later died, while one infant was rescued.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif subsequently constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the tragedy and suspended Health Secretary Aslam Ghori.
Kumar said the parliamentary committee had questioned the PIMS executive director about whether CCTV footage showed the fire originating from the old AC.
“The ED told us that it is not clear from the CCTV that the spark came from the old AC,” he said.
The committee is now examining whether faulty electrical wiring or the hospital’s oxygen pipeline could have contributed to the fire. Kumar said the extraordinary speed at which the blaze spread made the oxygen supply particularly relevant to the investigation.
“The fire spread within one minute, so oxygen could have been a catalyst,” he said. “Either there was a fault in the oxygen pipe, or there was something wrong with the wiring.”
Committee members also received differing accounts from doctors and nurses about the incident. Nurses who were on duty said the fire erupted suddenly and they were unable to identify its point of origin.
“No one saw where the spark came from and how it happened,” Kumar said.
The committee also raised concerns about why newborns were being housed in the older nursery, located in a building dating from 1990, when a newer and better-equipped block was available at the hospital.
“Our concern is that there should not have been a nursery here,” Kumar said. “The nursery unit children are the most important. They had to be kept in a new block.”
He said doctors on the committee believed the old facility was not intended or adequately equipped to accommodate newborns, and that the area was supposed to function as a gynaecology ward.
“The children had to be kept in the new, well-equipped block,” he said.
The committee’s observations have broadened the investigation beyond the immediate cause of the blaze to include PIMS infrastructure, fire safety arrangements and the decision to continue operating the nursery in the older building.