Senegal: Fire at hospital kills 11 newborns: President Macky Sall
By Aurore Bonny
DOUALA, Cameroon (AA): Eleven newborn babies died in a fire in the neonatal unit of a hospital in the western Senegalese city of Tivaouane, which is about 50 miles northeast of Dakar, the capital, the country’s president said late Wednesday.
“I have just learned with pain and dismay about the deaths of 11 newborn babies in the fire that occurred in the neonatal department of Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane. To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy,” Macky Sall, who was on a state visit to Angola, said on Twitter.
Senegal’s Health Minister, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, said on Twitter, “We learned with sorrow of the deadly fire in the neonatology department of the Mame A. A. Sy Dabakh hospital in Tivaouane.”
Three babies were saved from the fire, said the city’s mayor, Demba Diop Sy.
The fire was caused by a short circuit, according to Diop Sy, the mayor of Tivaouane, local media reported.
“It is the neonatal unit that was consumed by flames. The tragedy occurred around 8 pm,” said local news site Dakaractu.com.
Cheikh Bamba Dièye, Minister of Regional Planning and Local Government, said on Twitter that he was “appalled by the fire at the hospital.
“I am appalled by the horrific and unacceptable death of 11 newborn babies in Tivaouane,” he tweeted. “The recurrence of tragedies in our hospitals reminds us of the obligation to thoroughly review the quality of service in our hospitals.”
Local authorities have activated a crisis unit pending an evaluation of the situation.
The fire follows one that killed four infants at a maternity hospital in Linguere in the north of the country in April 2021. The city’s mayor had cited an electrical malfunction of an air conditioning unit as the cause.
Additional report by The Muslim News
[Map of Senegal from CIA Fact book/Public Domain]
The post Senegal: Fire at hospital kills 11 newborns: President Macky Sall appeared first on The Muslim News.