‘Staff kept incident hidden for hrs’: Newborn charred to death in Kanpur hospital fire

KANPUR: In a tragic incident, a newborn girl died after a fire broke out in the NICU of a private hospital in Kanpur’s Bithoor area on Sunday evening.Arun Nishad, a private employee from Bakarganj, had taken his pregnant wife Bittu to Raja Hospital for delivery. She gave birth to a daughter around 4 pm, and the baby was shifted to the NICU.

Later in the evening, a fire broke out in the NICU due to a short circuit.“The bed where my daughter was lying caught fire. My daughter was severely injured in the fire and died on the spot. Hospital staff kept this incident hidden for 4-5 hours. But when I insisted on seeing my daughter, the staff told us about the incident. Subsequently, we informed the police.”The family went ballistic after the death, creating a huge ruckus at the hospital. The police were called in via 112, and a team from Bithoorpolice station rushed to the scene.Bithoor police station incharge Ashok Saroj said: “The newborn was admitted to the NICU. The child was severely burned due to fire in the NICU, leading to her death. A case will be registered and action will be taken, once we will receive a complaint.”