CM pledges action over children ward fire

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Shari visited the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital to share grief of the families of 13 children who had died in a fire in a ward and extend her apologies over the act of criminal negligence by the authorities concerned.

“We are doing our best not to let such an incident happen again,” she said on the occasion.

The chief minister ordered immediate departmental action against the MS, AMS and administration officer of the hospital.

She called for exemplary punishment to those responsible for the incident after a thorough inquiry
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz offered condolences and expressed her heartfelt sympathies with the affected families.

She separately enquired about details of the tragedy from the parents.

The chief minister was informed that a victim girl’s mother had been admitted to the PIC due to a heart attack after hearing about the tragedy. A patient Aafia’s father Muhammad Ali complained that the police had baton charged and a guard had pushed his old mother.

The CM directed the DPO of Sahiwal to conduct an inquiry into complaints of bribery against security guards. She sought a complete security audit of all hospitals in the province.

Amir Muawiya, son of Asghar Ali, Asiya daughter of Muhammad Waseem, Areeba daughter of Ashfaq Abbas, daughter of Ghulam Abbas, Abdul Ghani son of Amir Shahzad, daughter of Javed Iqbal, Muhammad Nadeem son of Shabir Khan, daughter of Nasir Ali, Muhammad Ali son of Muhammad Riaz, Soraya daughter of Ali Ehsan and Sadia daughter of Bahadur Ali were among the victims.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz told members of the provincial assembly from different districts that upgrading of primary health centres across Punjab is in final stages of completion.

She added, ”We are expanding the scope of projects like field hospital and Clinic on Wheels.”

The CM also ordered an inquiry by the security guards on the complaint of taking money from DPO Sahiwal and ordered security audit of all hospitals.

CM Punjab stated that she is an equal participant in the grief of the children’s parents. She stated that “It will be ensured that such an incident does not happen in future”.

Meanwhile, doctors and nurses protested the arrest of Principal Medical College Sahiwal MS Teaching Hospital AMS.