Preventable tragedy?

At the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College Hospital in Jhansi, a fire broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), snuffing out the lives of at least ten newborns—innocent lives that had barely begun their journey on this Earth.

The cries of grieving parents are haunting, to say the least. Alleged systemic failures at the hospital have turned a place of healing into one of despair. Prima facie, the fire has been attributed to an electrical short circuit. Ironically, the NICU, regarded as a place meant to shelter the most fragile of lives, became a death trap surrounded by flames. Parents are reported to have broken windows in desperate attempts to save their children. Staff and bystanders, too, risked their lives to rescue over three dozen infants. Their brave efforts notwithstanding, the tragic loss of at least ten lives, including critical injuries sustained by several others, could not be prevented. The collective agony of parents must be sinking with the weight of unimaginable grief.