Jaipur’s hospital fire that could have been prevented
The Tribune Editorial: The tragedy is not an accident; it is the sum of repeated warnings ignored.
SIX lives were lost at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital when a midnight blaze turned the trauma ICU into a trap. Families allege that doctors fled and the gate was locked. The fire alarm never rang, sprinklers were silent and the lone fireman on duty was overwhelmed. Relatives broke glass panes to pull out their loved ones on bedsheets. A short circuit had been reported half an hour earlier — dismissed by staff who said it would “settle down.” If this sounds familiar, it should. In May 2024, seven newborn babies died in a fire at a neonatal hospital in Delhi that was operating on an expired licence. Six months later, a blaze at Jhansi Medical College exposed how even large public institutions lacked evacuation plans and functioning audits. Jaipur is now the latest entry in a grim, preventable pattern.
