New Delhi: After a devastating blaze raged through the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi on Friday night, an alert and quick-thinking nurse Megha James braved the flames and saved several babies from the inferno. As many as 11 newborns died in the fire and this toll could have been far more had the nurse not swung into action.
Megha James was on duty at the time and when she found the fire was ripping through the neonatal ward, she got into the rescue operation immediately. Even though she sustained burns to her foot and salwar, she didn’t give up, and with the help of the hospital staff, evacuated 14–15 babies.
She told news agency PTI that she had gone to take a syringe to administer an injection to a child. And when she came back, she saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. “I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread.”
“My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working,” the nurse said. She put on another salwar and went back for the rescue.
‘More newborns could have been saved if there was no power outage’
The nurse stated that the rescue efforts were hindered by the huge plumes of smoke and a power outage, which made it nearly impossible to see inside the NICU. She pointed out that more children could have been saved had the power not gone off. As the ward was enveloped by a lot of smoke, apparently, the visibility reduced further due to the power outage.
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood told PTI: “She didn’t care about her own safety and continued rescuing babies. She handed them over to people outside before seeking help for herself.”
Currently, Megha James is undergoing treatment at the same medical college for her injuries.
Fire was “accidental”, finds probe panel
A two-member committee probing the fire at the medical college has found that the blaze was “accidental” and not deliberate. It ruled out any criminal conspiracy in the incident, and therefore, no FIR has been filed till now.
According to an NDTV report, the committee comprising Jhansi commissioner Vipul Dubey and DIG Range Kalanidhi Nathani have found that the blaze was caused by a short circuit in the switchboard and the authorities couldn’t control it as sprinklers were not installed in the paediatrics ward.
(with inputs from PTI)
