ISLAMABAD – A deadly fire at PIMS turned newborn ward into a scene of horror as 14 infants lost their lives, the tragedy sparked furious backlash from the First Lady, politicians and activists, who are now demanding answers, accountability and a transparent probe.
Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said AC unit blast triggered the fire. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded by removing the federal health secretary and ordering an inquiry. But the government’s initial action has failed to silence the outrage.
The central question now is stark, how did 14 newborns lose their lives inside one of Islamabad’s biggest public hospitals?
Pakistan First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari expressed deep grief over the deaths and conveyed condolences to the devastated families. She prayed for strength and patience for the bereaved parents and wished a speedy recovery to those affected. Aseefa demanded an immediate, comprehensive and transparent investigation, calling for hospital systems to be overhauled and concrete safeguards introduced to prevent another catastrophe.
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman termed tragedy as “beyond shocking”, questioning how citizens seeking treatment in the federal capital could be exposed to such a disaster. She demanded justice for the newborn victims and accountability for those responsible.
Ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail called for a full investigation and accountability, saying the scale of the tragedy demanded consequences rather than routine expressions of grief.
Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar warned that merely taking notice of the fire was nowhere near enough. He argued that the deaths could not be dismissed as an unavoidable accident when better management and oversight could potentially have prevented them.
PPP’s Sharmila Faruqui separately demanded Mustafa Kamal’s immediate resignation, questioning why the federal health secretary had been removed while the minister remained in charge of hospitals in Islamabad. She argued that removing the secretary risked turning the official into a scapegoat, while the broader question of ministerial responsibility remained unanswered.
Activists and journalists also launched a blistering criticism of the government response. Fahd Husain described the incident as more than a tragedy, pointing to alleged failures in hospital management, governance and oversight.
Baqir Sajjad Syed highlighted the devastating breach of trust faced by parents who had entrusted their newborn children to the hospital for care and protection.
Journalist Talat Hussain said the tragedy was human-made and argued that government responsibility could not be brushed aside.
Asma Shirazi called for a parliamentary committee, led by the opposition, to investigate the incident, stressing that removing one official would not fix systemic failures.
PIMS fire has now evolved into a full-blown accountability crisis, with growing pressure on the government to explain what went wrong, who failed to act and why basic safeguards allegedly failed inside one of the capital’s most important hospitals.
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