4 min readNew DelhiJun 2, 2024 08:53 AM IST
First published on: Jun 2, 2024 at 05:32 AM IST
Written by Pragynesh
Ghaziabad resident Suman Kumari feels she is lucky that in a tragedy that left seven newborns dead, her child “didn’t even suffer a scratch”.
Kumari’s child is among the five infants that were rescued in the fire that broke out in Vivek Vihar’s Baby Care New Born Hospital last week. One of the rescued newborns died earlier this week.
Suman’s husband Madhuraj Kumar, a painter, is livid with the attitude of the hospital with regard to the tragedy. “The hospital never told me about the fire,” says Madhuraj. “Till today, the hospital hasn’t said anything,” he adds further. Suman says she was not aware of her child’s whereabouts till he was admitted to another hospital following the fire. She said she was only informed about the incident when the family needed her in the hospital to feed the baby.
“My family was trying to ensure that I did not panic. But once I heard of the incident, I had to go…you know, I am a mother,” she states, with a reluctant smile.
Suman says it was only out of pure luck that her child, a boy only 5-day-old when admitted to the Vivek Vihar facility, was kept in the room that was far from the one which suffered the most damage.
“The babies who passed away were in that room in the front. Mine was in the other room,” she explains. Her child is presently admitted at Swami Dayanand Hospital, Dilshad Garden, and is said to be out of danger.
“The doctors admitted him because they wanted to check his lungs for smoke,” says Madhuraj. He says that it was the members of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal who took him to his child after he was rescued.
The first responders though, according to Block C watchman Ramdas, were the residents of the colony he is charged with guarding over.
“Police and all came later. It was the colony people who came to the rescue,” he says.
Of the five children who were rescued was a pair of twins who were admitted to the GTB Nagar Hospital and put on a ventilator. One of them had a condition called hydrocephalus, which leads to build-up of fluid inside the brain, and succumbed to the neurological disorder on Friday.
Police said the fire aggravated the infant’s already fragile condition. The family members of the twins could not be contacted for comment.
For Mithilesh Kumar, father of another surviving kid, the news of his child being rescued from such a major fire is yet to sink in.
“I initially refused to believe the news,” says Mithilesh, who works in the courier service industry. Mithilesh, who belongs to Patna, says he got to know about the fire only the next morning of the tragedy, around 11.30 am.
“Seemapuri’s Raj Hospital (which had referred his baby to the Vivek Vihar facility) called me. They asked me whether I knew about the fire,” he says.
Following his rescue, Mithilesh’s child was referred to Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, Geeta Colony.
He says the doctors have told him that his child was “absolutely fine” and they were keeping him because it was a police case.
“I have already lost a child before. This boy was fortunately saved,” says Mithilesh, refusing to elaborate on his loss.
The fire broke out at Baby Care New Born Hospital in Vivek Vihar last week. (Expres Archive) 
Share
