11 newborns die in fire at Senegal hospital

Dakar, Senegal –

A fire at a hospital’s neonatal unit in Senegal has killed 11 newborns, President Macky Sall said. Only three infants could be saved.

“My deepest condolences to their mothers and families,” Sall tweeted late Wednesday.

The fire was traced to an electrical short circuit at the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital in Tivaouane, a town 120 kilometers northeast of the capital Dakar, Mayor Demba Diop said.

The deadly fire came a year after four other newborns died in a hospital fire in Linguere, in northern Senegal.

A string of other deaths have also raised concerns about maternal and child health in the West African nation known for having some of the region’s best hospitals.

Earlier this month, authorities discovered that a baby who had been pronounced dead by a nurse was still alive in a 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 have been sentenced to six months suspended sentences for failing to help a vulnerable person.

Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, cut short his trip to return to Senegal.