AT 6:45 Wednesday morning, a fire reportedly began after an air-conditioning compressor exploded in the nursery of PIMS Hospital in Islamabad. Sixteen newborns were in that room. Fifteen would never leave it alive. One was carried out by a doctor who happened to be present. Parents waiting outside were told that their children, some in incubators, some on oxygen and some only hours old, had died in the fire. These were babies utterly dependent on the adults and systems meant to keep them alive. The Prime Minister called the loss irreparable and ordered an investigation. An inquiry committee was formed. The cameras arrived and somewhere in the administrative machinery of the state, another report is being written, one that may explain how this happened long after the country has stopped asking who should have prevented it.

This is not the first time and not even a new warning. In June 2024, a fire triggered by an air-conditioning failure at Sahiwal Teaching Hospital killed eleven newborns. There were inquiries, promises and solemn assurances of accountability. Then the country moved on. Fifteen months later, the same horror returned at PIMS. Another nursery, another cooling-system failure. Another sixteen helpless infants trapped inside. How many dead babies does it take before a government stops calling negligence an accident? How many inquiries must be announced before someone is........

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