ISLAMABAD: Fourteen newborn babies were killed early Wednesday when fire tore through the nursery of the Mother and Child Health ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the federal capital’s largest public hospital, in what has become one of Pakistan’s deadliest hospital fires. Fifteen infants were inside the ward. One survived.
By Thursday, the fourteen had been buried in their families’ home towns as the government-appointed inquiry committee began its work.
According to a preliminary report shared by the PIMS spokesperson, the blaze began at around 6:38am on August 26 after a spark inside the nursery ignited within seconds, fed by the oxygen points fitted at each incubator. Two doctors and two nurses on duty were inside at the time and called security staff for help, making two attempts to re-enter the nursery. At roughly 6:39am, the report states, a blast brought the ceilings down.
Staff pulled one baby from the nursery itself, four more from an adjacent room along with three mothers, and evacuated 73 patients from the neighbouring gynaecology ward on the same floor. The spokesperson said 35 fire extinguishers were used and that all emergency exits were open and operational.
The Capital Development Authority put the emergency call at about 6:45am, with fire tenders and rescue teams on site within seven minutes. Six fire engines and four ambulances took part. All fourteen bodies were handed to families.
That official version is disputed. Bereaved families and witnesses have said the ward doors were shut. PIMS Executive Director Dr Imran Sikandar told reporters that access to the ward was deliberately restricted because of earlier attempts to abduct infants from government hospitals, adding that 24 fire cylinders were used and that public facilities are equipped with extinguishers rather than water outlets. Asked to explain further, he said the inquiry should be allowed to finish.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an emergency meeting, suspended Health Secretary Aslam Ghori and ordered him to leave the room, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. “Such a situation involving children is irreparable,” the statement quoted him as saying, directing that the strictest possible action follow.
A notification issued on his instructions constituted a high-level inquiry committee headed by retired federal secretary Shahid Khan, with retired Major General Dr Khurshid Utra, Dr Barrister Nabeel Ahmed Awan and the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad as members. Its terms of reference require it to establish the immediate cause and a timeline, review the response by hospital staff, the fire brigade and Rescue 1122, assess compliance with evacuation SOPs for high-risk neonates, audit the hospital’s fire-safety infrastructure and fix responsibility. An interim report is due within 48 hours and a full report within five days.
The Islamabad district administration separately formed a fact-finding committee under the Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), ICT, including officials from the CDA, Islamabad Police, IESCO, PIMS and Capital Emergency Services, with a 24-hour deadline.
By Thursday afternoon, sources said the inquiry panel had recorded statements from more than 30 hospital employees across departments, sought written submissions and begun reviewing CCTV footage from cameras across the facility.
PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman visited PIMS with Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari and delivered the sharpest criticism yet. She said people had to break windows and jump, that the emergency gate was closed, that fire equipment was not working and that medical staff were not present.
“I would have resigned on the spot. No one has voluntarily resigned. Shameful!” she said.
Rehman said some infants were so badly burnt that families could not initially identify them, and that the administration failed to support grieving parents. She questioned the continued existence of the federal health ministry after devolution, arguing its functions should be abolished or transferred to the provinces. The delegation, she stressed, had not come for political point-scoring but to press the questions being asked by the public.
Health Minister Mustafa Kamal attributed the blaze to an explosion in an air-conditioning unit, saying the presence of oxygen intensified it. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazl Chaudhry said the cause could not be determined at this stage and that the crime scene was being examined, but that gas lines and plastic equipment helped the fire spread. A separate initial account attributed the ignition to an oxygen flow meter beside an incubator.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, who visited on Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s instructions, defended the response, saying teams arrived within six to seven minutes and that the harshest legal punishment awaited anyone found negligent. Minister of State for Law Barrister Aqeel Malik promised a complete, transparent and impartial investigation.
President Asif Ali Zardari called the deaths an irreparable loss and ordered fire-safety and emergency arrangements be secured at hospitals nationwide. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the first political leader to take notice, said the children “were not merely numbers” but the hopes and prayers of their families.
Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said any lapse in safety where human lives are at stake is unacceptable. National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti all issued condolences.
MWM Chairman Allama Nasir Abbas, speaking outside PIMS, went further, calling the deaths a massacre and demanding the entire cabinet resign. The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League said in a joint statement signed by President Khalid Masood Sindhu, Secretary General Saifullah Qasuri and other office-bearers that forming a commission would not compensate families for an irreparable loss.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif directed commissioners and deputy commissioners to verify that firefighting equipment in every hospital is available and functional, and ordered fresh fire-safety audits across Punjab’s government hospitals with reports due within 24 hours, covering emergency exit routes and preparedness in consultation with Rescue 1122. KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi ordered fire-safety inspections, SOP reviews and regular emergency drills at all provincial government hospitals.
The UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described it as a tragic accident and said the UN team in Islamabad stands ready to assist the Government of Pakistan. UNICEF Representative in Pakistan Pernille Ironside called for urgent review and strengthening of fire-prevention standards across health facilities, saying every newborn deserves a safe start to life.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry conveyed condolences to the families, the government and the people of Pakistan, while WHO Representative Dr Luo Dapeng offered the organisation’s sympathies to the bereaved. Diplomatic missions including the British High Commission, Turkey, France, Spain, Iran and China issued statements of grief, as did the Embassy of Russia in Pakistan. The Pakistan Medical Association said it was in deep mourning.
The tragedy lands against a documented history. A fire broke out at the PIMS nursing hostel reception at 3am on July 6 this year, destroying three sofa sets; the 78 students present were unharmed, and an inquiry recommended departmental action against the warden and security staff but could not establish a precise cause without electrical and forensic findings. In June 2024, a fire traced to air-conditioning killed 11 babies in the paediatric ward of Sahiwal Teaching Hospital in Punjab, after which fire extinguishers were found to have expired.
Two reports are now pending — the district administration’s fact-finding review and the prime minister’s interim inquiry findings. The harder test is whether either produces enforceable change in oxygen-line safety standards, fixed suppression systems and evacuation protocols for neonatal units across Pakistan’s public hospitals, or whether, as Senator Rehman warned, this becomes another tragedy discussed for a few days and then set aside.
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