THERE is a particular grief that settles over a country when the same headline repeats until it stops shocking anyone. Then one incident arrives that refuses to fade. This week it was Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where a fire tore through the neonatal nursery. Fourteen newborns died. One baby was pulled out alive.

Parents who rushed to the ward say the NICU door was locked and staff was not there when the fire broke out. Officials have offered different explanations for the cause, including an air-conditioner compressor and an oxygen-related explosion. Whatever the technical explanation, the larger fact is harder to escape: newborns placed under constant medical supervision in one of the country’s largest public hospitals were not kept safe.

What happened afterwards was almost as disturbing. While the tragedy........

© Pakistan Observer