On August 26, 2026, 15 out of 16 newborns were reportedly asphyxiated in a nursery, located within a Maternal and Child Health ward of a leading public-sector Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad, due to an unfortunate short-circuiting accident.
These deaths will now be added as a fraction to Pakistan’s neonatal mortality rate of 42 deaths per 1,000 live births, one of the highest in the world. According to WHO figures, approximately 640 neonatal deaths occur daily in Pakistan. Over the course of 365 days, this tragedy may only marginally alter those statistics.
A voice of deep concern will be expressed. An inquiry committee will be formed and will apportion “blame,” and then we will move on. However, a proper root-cause analysis, failure mode and effects analysis would determine the systemic and individual errors or negligence that led to this event.
If a proactive facility management and safety committee had existed, the cracks in the walls and the unsafe environment might have been identified in real time, and this monumental tragedy could perhaps have been averted. But we, as a fatalistic nation, will remain reactive: reciting prayers for patience and strength for the families while waiting for the next disaster.
Beyond statistics, the facility needs a complete overhaul, with comprehensive safety measures put in place. And if there is no shame or guilt at the highest administrative levels where the spontaneous acceptance of responsibility and resignations are the need of the day then "heads should roll.”
This will not bring back the innocent babies to their distraught parents, but it may at least give them some assurance that there is a government with a heart. The alternative is simply to deepen public mistrust in the system and its governance, while adding further fuel to a simmering, volcanic anger.