Who Is Responsible for Death of 12 Babies in Jhansi Hospital? 5 Key Questions

Who's to take accountability for the death of 12 children in a Jhansi hospital fire? 

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Twelve innocent children have died a painful death due to a fire in the NICU ward of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.

With each event, the cities change, the time changes, the sigh of parents who lost their children changes, and the compensation amount from the government changes but what remains the same is the question of a failing government system over and over again.

1. Did the NICU in Jhansi where the fire incident took place, have the capacity to handle only 18 children but 51 children were admitted in it?

2. Were there expired fire extinguishers installed in the NICU ward?

3. Were there adequate exit routes in the NICU ward in case of an emergency?

4. Is the person who has been arrested by the police on charges of admission fraud, the Chief Medical Superintendent of the medical college?

5. Did the local hospital administration not show sensitivity even in this tragic moment?

Let us find answers to these questions one by one.

Were there more babies admitted in NICU than its capacity?

The pediatric ICU ward of the government Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi was overwhelmed beyond its capacity.

It could currently accommodate only 18 newborns, but at the time of the fire on Friday night, 49 newborns were admitted. According to The Indian Express report, the principal of this medical college, Dr NS Sengar, said that people come to this hospital from far-off places because of the high cost of treatment elsewhere.

Due to overloading, it is quite possible that the life saving equipment in the NICU was running continuously. This overloading caused sparking and a fire.

It's noteworthy that a new 51-bed NICU ward has been built in this hospital but it was not operational yet. The new NICU building is located right next to the building where the fire broke out.

According to the report, the Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Sachin Mahor, said that the construction of this new ward started about two years ago.

News18 published a report in January this year that a new NICU ward was being built at Maharani Laxmibai Medical College. According to the report, more than 70% of the work on this ward was complete and it was expected to be completed by the end of February.

The nodal officer of the NICU ward and head of the pediatrics department, Dr Om Shankar Chaurasia, had also said that this new ward would start functioning in a month. But even after more than 10 months, it could not be started.

Were there expired fire extinguishers installed in the NICU ward?

Several relatives have alleged that the fire extinguishers in the NICU ward were not working at the time of the incident. Speaking to The Quint, a relative, Vikas Ariwar, claimed that after the fire broke out in the ward, he tried to use the fire extinguisher present there but it was empty. After this, he had to bring a fire extinguisher from the women's ward next door.

Videos obtained by The Quint from the scene show that some fire extinguishers were last refilled in 2019 and 2022, and expired in 2023.

Some fire extinguishers were last refilled in 2019 and 2022, and expired in 2023.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Some fire extinguishers were last refilled in 2019 and 2022, and expired in 2023.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

On the other hand, while speaking to The Quint, Medical College Principal Dr Narendra Singh Sengar has completely rejected the allegation that fire extinguishers were not working on the spot.

He claimed that "three fire extinguishers were used to extinguish the fire which were fully working. One twenty-six cylinders were refilled in June. Twenty-thirty cylinders were also refilled in October. Six fire extinguisher cylinders were issued for the NICU ward. Out of these, 2-3 cylinders were used after the fire. This will become more clear after the investigation report comes."

Regarding expired cylinders, Dr Narendra Singh Sengar told Quint, "There are many other things in the NICU ward. There is also a central store room where old stuff is kept. Empty cylinders are not thrown away. They are kept in the store. When the fire broke out and the doors broke, many old fire extinguishers fell on the spot."

The Quint spoke to both the traders, Rudraksh Traders and Pitambar Fire Service, who were seen refilling extinguishers in the fire video. Pitambar Fire Service said that they had last refilled for 2019-20 and now they have closed this business.

On the other hand, Rudraksh Traders claimed that they had refilled fire extinguishers only in June 2024 and it is possible that some cylinders may have remained hidden from the hospital staff due to which they could not be refilled.

Why was there an oxygen concentrator in the NICU ward? Were there enough exits in case of an emergency?

There are two units of NICU ward of this medical college. One unit is inside and the other is outside. First of all, the children who were outside were taken out. But the children who were inside suffered severe burns. The children admitted here could not be saved.

It is worth noting here that both the units had only one door to enter and exit. While talking to The Quint, Vikas Ariwar also said that there was only one door to enter the ward.

He tied a handkerchief on his mouth and went into the ward to save the children. He pulled out many children.

According to Ariwar, the children who died were taken out by breaking the window of the ward only after the fire brigade extinguished the fire. Although the principal of the college has said that there is another door, he also admitted that it was closed at that time.

There was one more door but it was closed at that time.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The Quint reached the other door which according to the college principal opens towards the gynecology ward. We saw that the handle on one of its doors was cut or broken.

Apart from this, the latch on which the rolling pin fits was also broken. It seems that it was broken to get inside at the time of the incident. However, The Quint cannot independently confirm this.

The second big question related to this is about the oxygen concentrator.

According to Chief Medical Superintendent Sachin Mahor, the fire first started inside the oxygen concentrator and efforts were made to extinguish the fire but since there was excessive oxygen in the room, the fire spread rapidly.

The National Neonatology Forum of India, in collaboration with UNICEF India, had released a self-assessment toolkit in its Newborn Care Accreditation Program. According to this, there should be a centralised oxygen supply system from the labor room to the NICU ward. That is, through pipes. It has been placed in the mandatory category.

As per the National Neonatology Forum, there should be a centralised oxygen supply system from the labor room to the NICU ward.

(Photo: NNFI/The Quint)

On the condition of anonymity, a well-known pediatrician of the country told The Quint that there should never be an oxygen concentrator in the NICU ward because in case of sparking, it acts as a catalyst for fire. That is why UNICEF talks about supplying oxygen through pipes.

Is the person who has been arrested by the police on charges of fraud the Chief Medical Superintendent of the medical college?

After this tragic incident, one more aspect has come to light. The Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Sachin Mahor, was arrested by Gujarat Police nine years ago on charges of fraud in MBBS admission.

At that time, Dr Mahor was the head of the cancer department at Maharani Laxmibai Medical College.

Report regarding probe into Dr Sachin by the medical college authorities.

(Photo: Amar Ujala/Screenshot)

According to a report published in Amar Ujala, Gujarat Police came to the college after the head of the cancer department was accused of mediating between the kingpin and the students.

The police reached the OPD of the medical college with a person arrested in a fraud case. As soon as he reached in front of the doctor, the arrested person identified Mahaur as his partner. Then he was taken into custody. In this case, the Principal of the medical college, Dr. Narendra Singh Sengar, had ordered a departmental inquiry.

When we questioned Principal Dr. Sengar about this matter, he said that the UP government has acquitted Dr. Sachin Mahor by giving him some punishment. As a punishment, three increments of his salary have been stopped. At present, he is not a guilty person as per the government.

Dr. Sachin Mahor himself said in a conversation with The Quint that even though the case against him is still going on in the court, he was given a clean chit after investigation by the hospital and the administration.

When Kinjal Singh, chairperson of the team formed by the health department to investigate the current fire incident, was questioned about this, she said that she had no information about it.

Did the local hospital administration not show sensitivity even in this tragic moment?

When the whole country was stunned to hear the news of this tragic incident, some employees of this hospital were putting lime beside the road to welcome the state's Deputy CM and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak before his visit. The Deputy CM himself has criticised this and asked the District Magistrate to take action.

 The opposition is also targeting UP CM Yogi Adityanath. The Samajwadi Party has said that the Chief Minister is busy campaigning for the BJP in other states instead of paying attention to the health system of the state.