Snuffing out young lives

Jhansi hospital fire is a painful reminder of the callous approach of administrations to fire safety

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The fire in a Jhansi hospital that killed 10 newborns late Friday evening should make everyone angry. Expectedly, a probe has been announced to find out the cause of the fire and fix accountability, but the question that needs to be asked is why enough is not done to make hospitals a safe space. An analysis by Indian researchers published in a Springer-Nature journal in 2023 showed hospital fires rose considerably from the levels a decade and a half ago, with nearly as many incidents in private hospitals as in government ones.