• Hospital says one baby rescued from nursery, four from adjacent room after fire broke out in Mother and Child Health Centre
• PM suspends health secretary, forms fact-finding committee to investigate incident
• Families demand justice, claim rescue and administration officials arrived too late
• Health minister assures accountability, measures to prevent such incidents in the future
• PPP lawmakers raise issue in parliament, seek inquiry
• IHC moved for judicial probe, audit of fire safety system at hospital
ISLAMABAD: The festivities of Eid Miladun Nabi were overshadowed by a devastating tragedy on Wednesday, when a fire in the gynaecology ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) claimed the lives of fourteen new-born babies.
The fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Centre on Wednesday morning, and spread quickly due to “oxygen points at each incubator” where babies were being kept.
Out of 15 babies in the nursery, only one infant could be saved.
Following the tragedy, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident, amid allegations by family members that negligence by hospital administration and a delayed response by the authorities had led to the deaths.
In a statement, Pims said two doctors and two nurses on duty inside the nursery responded “immediately and called security staff, who joined in and tried to get in twice [to bring] babies out until 06:39am”, when a huge explosion caused the ceiling to collapse.
The statement said that one baby was rescued from the nursery, while four infants in an adjacent room were also saved, along with their mothers. “Besides immediate response, staff managed rescue of 73 other admitted patients in the adjacent gynae ward on the same floor within minutes,” it added.
After the PM suspended Health Secretary Aslam Ghauri, retired Captain Muhammad Mehmood was given additional charge of the health department, as a stopgap arrangement.
Speaking to the media, the new secretary said he would run the health ministry from the hospital.
“There are good and bad people in the hospital and they [good people] will give me suggestions. I have decided to sit in Pims so that I can understand the problems. I have additional charge of the health ministry and will try my best to address the issues,” he said.
Delayed response
Families of the slain infants, however, complained that rescue and police officials arrived hours after the incident, while the doors of the ward were also locked. Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive. “The fire erupted at 6am, rescue and authorities reached at 9am; people were helping themselves,” he said.
“Give me my child back,” Jaweria, who lost her newborn, said outside the hospital. “I want justice. For two hours I kept crying and wailing,” the mother said, questioning the action taken by hospital staff and emergency responders. Mudasir, another parent who also lost his child, said all doors of the ward, except one, were shut and that there was “no fire security” in the ward.
Some also questioned the state of the building. Malik Israr, whose niece was admitted to the ward, told Dawn that it was unfortunate the nursery was housed in a building in which repairs and renovations were ongoing. “After the fire erupted, they told patients to vacate the building. Women who had just given birth had to rush down the stairs from the second floor,” he recalled.
However, State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry denied any negligence on the part of the authorities.
Minister assures action
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said that every responsible person would be held accountable. “If I am willing to present myself for accountability, then no one else is left. “Wherever there has been negligence, we will fix it,” he said. Noting that such an incident should not have happened, he said: “Will get to its root cause and ensure prevention in the future.”
The minister was also asked about reports that the door of the ward was locked, to which he said that access to the ward was limited and guarded due to “instances of people stealing newborn babies a couple of years back”.
PM forms committees
The inquiry committee, headed by former interior secretary Shahid Khan, is supposed to submit its interim report to the PM today (Friday), which will be followed by a comprehensive report within five days.
According to its terms of reference (ToRs), the panel will ascertain the cause of the fire and review the rescue operations carried out by the hospital staff and relevant agencies such as Rescue 1122.
Besides conducting a detailed review of the fire safety infrastructure at Pims, the committee will also determine the responsibility and negligence, if any, of individuals involved in the incident. It will recommend necessary reforms for Pims’s administrative system to help prevent such incidents in the future.
Separately, a notification issued by the Islamabad district magistrate said that a seven-member fact-finding committee, headed by the additional deputy commissioner general, had been formed to determine the facts behind the fire.
It was tasked with determining the exact cause of the fire, assessing whether adequate and functional fire-safety measures were in place, and evaluating the response time and effectiveness of the rescue and fire-fighting operations. The committee included officials of the district administration and the hospital.
Judicial probe demanded
Meanwhile, a petition filed in the Islamabad High Court has sought a judicial probe, while expressing a lack of confidence in the fact-finding body formed by the premier. The petition argued that the officials included in the government-constituted committee could not impartially investigate the matter because of an apparent conflict of interest.
The petitioner, who is a lawyer, also requested the court to order a complete audit of the fire alarm and fire safety system installed at Pims, arguing that the tragedy raises serious questions about the preparedness and safety mechanisms at one of the country’s major public-sector hospitals.
The petition specifically raised concerns regarding the inclusion of senior officials associated with the hospital and emergency response mechanisms in the inquiry process. It stated that the director general emergency himself could potentially be among the persons whose role or responsibility may require examination.
Lawmakers call for investigation
PPP lawmakers moved calling attention notices in the Senate and the National Assembly, seeking an immediate investigation and debate over the Pims fire. PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate, calling for an immediate and comprehensive investigation.
She said the loss of 14 newborn lives at a major government hospital in the federal capital was a matter of grave public concern and cannot be treated as a routine incident. “The failure of essential safety arrangements at the capital’s central government hospital is unacceptable. The reported non-functioning of several safety protocols at Pims raises serious questions that must be answered,” she said.
PPP MNA Dr Mehreen Razzaq Bhutto also submitted a calling attention notice in the National Assembly, while PPP MNAs Sehar Kamran Shazia Marri submitted a separate calling-attention notice in the lower house of parliament.
Malik Asad in Islamabad also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2026
