Relatives sit outside Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, Senegal, a town 75 miles northeast of Dakar on Thursday, May 26, 2022.
Cheick Si / AP
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Cheick Si / AP
Relatives sit outside Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, Senegal, a town 75 miles northeast of Dakar on Thursday, May 26, 2022.
Cheick Si / AP
TIVAOUANE, Senegal – Police stood guard and nearby residents and parents mourned outside a hospital in Senegal, where a fire in the neonatal ward killed 11 babies. President Macky Sall said only three babies could be saved before calling for three days of mourning for the young lives lost.
Mamadou Mbaye, who witnessed Wednesday’s fire at Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, a town 75 miles northeast of the capital Dakar, told The Associated Press that conditions inside the hospital were poor. “terrible.”
“It was hot and smoking inside with sweltering heat, and then the power went out,” Mbaye said.
Grieving parents are still in shock.
Badara Faye, who lost her son, said: “I christened my baby on Wednesday and he was baptized in the hospital.
Moustapha Cisse, who also lost an infant, said they were still waiting for answers as to how such a tragic fire could have claimed the lives of their children.
According to Mayor Demba Diop, the fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical short.
Interior Minister Antoine Diome announced that authorities will open an investigation into the condition of the hospital’s facilities as well as other health care centers, Senegalese media reported.
President Sall called for a three-day mourning.
“To the mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathies,” Sall wrote on Twitter upon hearing of the fire.
His chief of staff, Minister Augustin Tine, visited the remains of the hospital on Thursday.
“We have become close to people, especially parents,” he said. We have come to share our grief, he added, “to offer condolences and to say again that it was a misfortune that has befallen our country, but we remain steadfast in our faith.”
The deadly fire comes a year after four other infants died in a hospital fire in Linguere, northern Senegal.
The spate of other deaths has also raised concerns about maternal and newborn health in the West African country known for having some of the best hospitals in the region.
Earlier this month, authorities discovered a baby who had been declared dead by a nurse was still alive in the morgue. The infant later died.
Last year, a pregnant woman died in Louga, in the north of the country, after waiting in vain for a caesarean section. Three midwives were given six-month suspended prison sentences for not helping a person in danger.
Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, cut short his trip to return to Senegal.
