Daily Times

Indian police said Monday they had arrested a doctor and the owner of an unlicensed hospital where six newborn babies died in a fire 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, it was bystanders who 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 Hindustan Times. 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 the Indian Express 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 AFP that the hospital did “not have a fire exit system”. Its licence had expired in March and the owner had crammed into the ward more than twice the number of beds it previously had permission for. “The hospital had permission for up to five beds but they had installed more than 10 beds,” he said. “In view of all this, we have made the arrests.” Five babies pulled out from the fire are still recovering in another hospital.