Unqualified Staff, Expired Licence: Delhi Police Find Lapses at Facility Where 7 Babies Died in Blaze

The Delhi Police on Monday said that it will verify the educational qualification of the staff that were running the neo-natal intensive care facility in Vivek Vihar where seven infants died after a fire broke out late on Saturday night. Senior officials said that the documents related to registration of the hospital are also being checked thoroughly.

The two persons who were arrested by the police in this case on Sunday, the owner of the facility and the on-duty doctor, were on Monday sent to a three day police remand where they will be interrogated by the police to further investigate the seven deaths.

It was around 11.29 pm on Saturday when a distress call was received reporting fire at a hospital in Vivek Vihar area. By the time firefighters and police reached the spot, locals had already volunteered to save the trapped infants. Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Service said that his teams reached the spot and started the rescue operation.

“Initial enquiry revealed that three members of the hospital staff had already escaped from the building but some infants were trapped. Our men entered the building through windows to locate children in the smoke filled rooms of the hospital and with the help of the locals, formed a human chain and one by one all babies were taken out and were sent to another hospital for immediate medical attention," Garg said.

Deputy commissioner of police (Shahadra) Surendra Choudhary said 12 infants were rescued from the nursing station. “Seven of the twelve babies died and were shifted to GTB Hospital mortuary for autopsy. Five others were admitted to another NICU facility close by and they are doing fine," the DCP said.

Choudhary said the police have registered a case under IPC sections 336 (endangering human life with negligence), 304A (causing death due to negligence), 34 (criminal act by several persons), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (act with intention to cause culpable homicide), while further investigation is underway.

Police have also found that there are three more branches of the Baby Care New Born NICU facility run from Punjabi Bagh in New Delhi and the other two in Haryana’s Gurugram and Faridabad. These facilities have also come under the radar of the state administrations after glaring lapses in the Vivek Vihar set up were unveiled following the mishap.

Preliminary probe by the police and Delhi Fire Service have highlighted several lapses on part of the NICU facility’s administration that possibly led to the tragic death of seven infants. Police have found that the licence issued to the Baby Care New Born Child Hospital by Directorate General Health Services, government of Delhi, had expired on March 31, 2024. Police have said that even as per the expired licence, the administration was allowed only to run a five-bed facility. However, at the time of incident, 12 newborn children were found admitted in the hospital.

The police also stated that the doctors at the hospital were not qualified or competent to treat the newborn children in need of neo-natal intensive care, as majority of them were BAMS degree holders only, commonly known as Ayurveda practitioners.

At the time of inspection of the building, police and firefighters also spotted that there were no fire extinguishers installed in the hospital for emergencies.

There was also no emergency exit in the hospital in case of any untoward incident, police found in its inspection.

Keeping in mind the glaring lapses that claimed the lives of seven infants, the police on Sunday made immediate arrests in the case while the role of others was being looked into.

So far, the police have made two arrest in the mishap, one of a doctor, an MD in pediatrics, 45-year-old Naveen Khichi, who the police said is also the owner of the nursing station. A resident of Pashchim Vihar, Khichi and his dentist wife, together ran the hospital, police said.

Another person who has been arrested by the police is the doctor who was on duty at the time of the incident. He has been identified as Akash, a 26-year-old resident of Charkhi Dadri. The police have said that Akash is qualified in BAMS like three other doctors who were associated with the hospital. BAMS are usually referred to as Ayurvedic practitioners, not qualified or competent to treat newborn babies in need of neo-natal intensive care.

With the probe so far, the investigators suspect that the probable cause of fire could possibly have been a short circuit. However, senior officials said that the Electric Inspection Report from the electric inspector of the Delhi government’s labour department, was being obtained, which will further clear the cause of fire.

A team of labour department on Monday visited the gutted building and carried out a detailed inspection.

A report is also being prepared by the Delhi Fire Services, which will also help the investigators understand the cause behind the fire.