PIMS fire inquiry cites systemic failures after 14 newborn deaths

An official inquiry into the fire that killed 14 newborns at Pakistan's Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences has concluded that systemic and institutional failures were responsible for the tragedy, with no functioning fire safety systems in place at the time. The fire broke out on August 26, 2026, in the nursery of the Mother and Child Hospital ward, which housed 15 medically fragile neonates. The inquiry report, released in September 2026, identified an electrical fault in an air conditioning unit cable as the most probable cause. Investigators found that the nursery lacked automatic smoke detection, alarm, or sprinkler systems, and emergency escape routes were locked or obstructed when firefighters arrived. The report stated that the institutional system turned a spark into a catastrophe, with multiple safeguards absent or ineffective. PIMS management bore principal responsibility for failing to convert known risks and prior warnings into an effective safety system. Previous warnings from the Capital Development Authority and the Federal Ombudsman in 2015, as well as the hospital's own acknowledgement of ageing infrastructure in 2025, had not been addressed.