ISLAMABAD – Fourteen newborns are dead after a fast-spreading fire ripped through a neonatal nursery at Pakistan’s leading public medical facility, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce sweeping disciplinary and criminal action against responsible parties, his office confirmed in an official statement Saturday.
The tragedy, which unfolded earlier this week, left just one surviving infant out of the 15 babies receiving care in the third-floor nursery, after flames spread too rapidly for medical staff to evacuate all patients. The interim findings of a government-appointed investigative committee, led by retired senior civil servant Shahid Khan, painted a damning picture of systemic negligence that set the stage for the fatal incident.
Investigators confirmed the nursery was not equipped with any working fire alarms or sprinkler systems, basic fire safety infrastructure required for medical facilities. Worse, the hospital lacked comprehensive emergency response protocols and had never provided staff with adequate training to contain or respond to fire outbreaks. When the fire ignited, no senior supervisory personnel were on duty at the facility, the report found, and emergency responders were not alerted until six minutes after the blaze began. First responders took an additional 15 minutes to reach the scene after receiving the distress call. Of the hospital’s 13 formal standard operating procedures, only two passing references were made to fire or emergency response, investigators added.
Following the committee’s interim report submission, Sharif ordered the immediate suspension of eight senior and mid-level officials, and directed that both departmental disciplinary proceedings and formal criminal charges be filed against all parties found culpable for the negligence that led to the deaths. The suspended officials include PIMS’ executive director, two joint executive directors, the head of the hospital’s neonatal department, two additional attending doctors, PIMS’ assistant security director, and the head of emergency services for the Capital Development Authority. Sharif also approved legal action against the private contracted company responsible for hospital security and its leadership.
In a notable act of recognition for extraordinary courage during the blaze, Sharif approved a committee recommendation to award the Sitara-i-Khidmat, one of Pakistan’s highest state honors for public service, to a nurse who risked her own life to rescue the sole surviving infant before flames overtook the ward. Footage of the two-minute-long fire progression from the nursery’s surveillance system was reviewed during Saturday’s leadership meeting, though the recording has not been released to the public as of this reporting.
The fatal fire has already sparked widespread public outrage across Pakistan, with grieving family members of the deceased infants and civil society organizations organizing widespread calls for full accountability for the tragedy. “Those guilty of criminal negligence deserve no leniency,” Sharif said in comments released by his office.
The national government has announced 5 million Pakistani rupees, approximately $18,000, in compensation for each of the bereaved families. The tragedy has also triggered broader nationwide reviews of fire safety standards at all healthcare facilities across the country. Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, has already ordered an immediate urgent audit of fire suppression systems, firefighting equipment, and emergency response infrastructure at all public and private hospitals in the region. This fire adds to a string of deadly preventable tragedies involving children in Pakistan in recent months; in June, 14 schoolchildren were killed when an under-construction tutoring center roof collapsed in the eastern city of Lahore.