Fire Kills 11 Babies In Senegal Hospital: A fire at a Senegalese hospital kills 11 newborns. SENEGAL’S TIVAOUANE — Outside a hospital in Senegal where 11 newborns died in a fire in the neonatal section, police were on high alert, as residents and parents stood in mourning. President Macky Sall stated only three infants could be saved before calling for a three-day mourning period on Thursday.
Fire Kills 11 Babies In Senegal Hospital
“The conditions inside the hospital were atrocious,” said Madou Mbaye, who witnessed the fire Wednesday at the Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, a town 75 miles northeast of Dakar.
“It was hot and smoky inside with a suffocating heat, and there was a power outage,” Mbaye said.
Parents who were grieving were still in shock as Fire Kills 11 Babies In Senegal Hospital.
“I baptized my child on Wednesday and he was baptized here in the hospital. To my great shock, I got a call to tell me that the neonatal section had been destroyed by a fire,” said Badara Faye, who lost his son.
Moustapha Cisse, who also lost a newborn, said they are still looking for answers as to why their children were killed in such a sad fire.
As reported by Senegalese media, Interior Minister Antoine Diome said authorities would investigate the condition of the hospital’s facilities, as well as other healthcare facilities.
Three days of mourning have been declared by President Sall.
“To their mothers and families, I express my deepest sympathy,” Sall had tweeted upon hearing the news of the fire.
His chief of staff, Minister Augustin Tine, visited the remains of the hospital Thursday.
“We have come to be close to the people, in particular the parents,” he said. We have come to share the suffering, he added, “to share our condolences and to say again it is a misfortune that has hit our country, but we keep our faith.”
A year ago, four additional newborns died in a hospital fire in Linguere, Senegal’s northern region.
A slew of additional deaths has sparked concerns about maternal and baby health in the West African country, which boasts some of the region’s best institutions.
Authorities discovered a kid who had been certified dead by a nurse’s assistant was still alive in a mortuary earlier this month. The baby died afterward.
A pregnant woman died last year in Louga, in the country’s north, after waiting for a cesarean section in vain. Three midwives were sentenced to six months in prison with a six-month suspension for failing to assist a person in danger.
Minister of Health Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, cut his trip short to return to Senegal.
According to Mayor Demba Diop, the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit.
“We are devastated,” one young man, who only gave his name as Abdou, told the BBC.
“My sister-in-law gave birth last month but then she died. The baby was born seven months into the pregnancy, so he had to be treated and he is now one of the victims of this fire,” he said.