Eleven babies died on Wednesday evening in an apparently accidental fire at the Tivaouane hospital (west), the latest drama to date to highlight the serious shortcomings of the Senegalese health system.
The tragedy caused consternation and amplified exasperation at the repetition of such shocks in this poor country.
The disaster was caused by a short circuit in the neonatal unit of the Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital where the newborns were, said Minister of Health Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr quoted by the press.
The unit has a capacity of 13 babies; “At the time of the fire, there were 11, which the nurses could not save,” he said.
“Three babies were saved,” contradicted the mayor of Tivaouane, Demba Diop. The fire was caused by “a short circuit and the fire spread very quickly,” said Mr. Diop, also known as Diop Sy.
“My son was baptized yesterday, he is only nine days old. The maternity ward was full and I think there are no survivors,” an unidentified mother told the Dakaractu news site overnight.
The personalities followed one another on the spot in the night. President Macky Sall, traveling abroad, sent his Minister of the Interior Antoine Diome. The city of around 40,000 inhabitants is the stronghold of the Tidianes, one of the important Muslim brotherhoods which play an essential social role in Senegal, and its leader has also sent his representative there.
“I have just learned with pain and dismay of the death of 11 newborns in the fire that occurred in the neonatology department of the hospital” in Tivaouane, tweeted President Macky Sall.
“To their moms and their families, I express my deepest sympathy,” he added.
At daybreak, only a police vehicle placed at the entrance to the hospital on the roadside reported the tragedy which had occurred a few hours earlier. Patients crossed, it seems as usual, the gate where security guards filtered the entrances. The scene of the fire is invisible from the road.
Senegalese hospitals have experienced other tragedies recently.
Four newborn babies died on April 25, 2021 in a fire in Linguère, in the north of the country. The mayor and then Minister of the Interior, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, had mentioned an electrical malfunction of an air conditioning unit in the maternity ward.
On April 1, Astou Sokhna, a woman in her thirties who was nine months pregnant, died at the public hospital in Louga (north) after having, according to her relatives, waited in vain in very great suffering and for a twenty hours the caesarean she was asking for.
Faced with the outcry caused by the death of Ms. Sokhna, President Sall had instructed to seek responsibility.
The director of the hospital was dismissed and replaced.
“This situation is very regrettable and extremely painful. The investigation is underway to see what happened” in Tivaouane, said on RFM radio the Minister of Health who announced his return Thursday from Geneva where he was attending a meeting of the World Health Organization. health (WHO).
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted that he was “more than heartbroken”.
“I hope that this time the sanctions will hit the top of a generally failing system” without waiting for the July legislative elections to pass, tweeted former Senegalese Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye.
The head of the Senegalese section of Amnesty, Seydi Gassama, “urges the government to set up an independent commission of inquiry to locate responsibilities and punish the culprits”, on Twitter.
“More burnt babies in a public hospital. This is unacceptable Macky Sall,” tweeted an opposition MP, Mamadou Lamine Diallo.
“All of Senegal is appalled”, was moved by the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi, who said they were waiting for all the light to be shed on what happened and announced that they were suspending all political activity in the country for 72 hours. .
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