A five-day old baby girl was burnt to death as the incubator she had been kept in caught fire at a Delhi government hospital early Wednesday.The incident took place at the Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in Pitampura around 2.30 am. Hospital authorities attributed the incubator fire to a short-circuit. By the time an alarm was raised, fire had engulfed the incubator and the newborn was dead, the authorities said.The Delhi government suspended three hospital staff, including a doctor, and called for a report within three days. The police have registered a case of negligence against the hospital. The baby, born premature last week, was kept in an incubator as she had jaundice and respiratory problems, doctors said. “We also treated her to phototherapy which is a common treatment modality for neonatal jaundice,” said medical superintendent Dr Ashok Kumar Dang.Om Prakash, the newborn’s father, accused the hospital staff of “gross negligence”.“When we reached the hospital (from his home in Shakurpur Basti), we were not even allowed inside. After much protest, the hospital authorities relented,” he said.Kamlesh, the mother, said she rushed towards the incubation unit when she heard her child cry. According to her, the fire had not spread to the trolley where her baby was lying. “The nurse could have just pulled the trolley and saved my child. But she didn’t act in time and the fire spread. I was pushed out of the room, I could only watch helplessly,” she alleged.Dr Dang, however, said they tried their best to save the child. “It was a freak accident, we didn’t expect it to happen. We were taken aback. While the police are carrying out investigations into what might have caused the fire, we suspect there was a short-circuit,” he said.But a Health Ministry official faulted the hospital staff. “A child in an ICU is supposed to be monitored 24 hours. It’s clear that a lapse occurred,” the official said.The government has directed the hospital to install an alarm system in its incubation unit. “It’s a new hospital, there is no alarm system in place,” the official said.
