New Delhi, May 27 (IANS): The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Monday asked Naresh Kumar Chief Secretary (CS) of NCT of Delhi to take appropriate action against the authorities responsible for the tragic fire incident at a hospital in which seven newborns died.

“Naresh Kumar Chief Secretary of NCT of Delhi must take appropriate action as per law against the responsible authorities: Department of Health Services, NCT of Delhi, Department of Fire Services, Municipal Authorities and other concerned district administration, and State Medical Council,” the Commission said after visiting the nursing home where seven newborns died in a fire incident.

The Commission has also instructed the Chief Secretary to submit an ‘Action Taken Report’ to the Commission within five working days and also sought a district-wise list of all government and private hospitals having NICU/ SNCU and any other medical facilities keeping the newborns and infants in NCT of Delhi.

The Commission has observed that in the said nursing home there was no emergency exit which is a serious violation of the National Building Code of India, 2016.

“There were no fire extinguishers and no automatic water sprinkle systems were functional. Also, at the time of the incident, locals reported it rather than the hospital staff,” the Commission said.

The Commission said that 12 newborn babies were rescued from the fire incident and shifted to East Delhi Advance NICU Hospital in Vivek Vihar for treatment.

Out of these 12 newborns, six were declared brought dead and one was put on the ventilator but could not survive. All seven dead bodies have been further shifted to GTB Hospital for postmortem.

NCPCR said that it seems that the staff of the nursing home was not trained in handling such emergency situations.

“Prime- facie it seems that the incident occurred due to the negligence of the concerned authorities,” the NCPCR said.