A fire that broke out in Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital has claimed the lives of 11 newborn babies.
The fire occurred in the neonatology department of the hospital located in the Western city of Tivaouane in Senegal on Wednesday, May 25.
“I have just learned with pain and consternation the death of 11 newborn babies in the fire that occurred in the neonatology department of the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital in Tivaouane,” tweeted Senegalese President, Macky Sall.
“To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy,” he added.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch your favorite Switch TV shows.
According to Senegalese health minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr’s report on private Senegalese television TFM, “the fire had been caused by a short circuit.”
“This situation is very unfortunate and extremely painful,” said Sarr, who had attended a World Health Organization meeting in Geneva, on the occurrence of the tragedy.
Sar said he would cut his trip short and return to Senegal immediately, as an investigation was underway.
The mayor of Tivaouane, Demba Diop Sy, reported that the fire spread very quickly and police and fire services were still at the hospital, but no further details were provided.
|
|
However, according to Demba’s report, three babies were able to be saved from the fire.
Citing local media reports, the hospital had been newly launched according to the Agence France-Presse(AFP).
The opposing Mp Mamadou Lamine Diallo criticized the government with a tweet stating, “more babies burned in a public hospital… This is unacceptable.”
Amnesty International Rights group urged the government in a tweet quote through the county director Seydi Gassama, to create an “independent commission of inquiry to determine responsibility and punish the culprits, no matter the level they are at in the state apparatus.”
The Rights group also called for Senegal’s neonatal wards to be inspected as there was a similar incident that had occurred last year in the northern town of Linguère, where four infants lost their lives at the hospital’s maternity ward. The fire was caused by an electric fault in the air conditioning unit of the ward.
