The fire was caused by “a short circuit and the fire spread very quickly,” said the mayor of Tivouane, the city in western Senegal where the tragedy took place.
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Eleven babies died on Wednesday, May 25, in a fire in a hospital in Tivaouane, in western Senegal, a tragedy that highlights the serious shortcomings of the public health system in this poor country.
“I have just learned with pain and consternation of the death of eleven newborns in the fire that occurred in the neonatology department of the hospital” public of Tivaouane, Senegalese President Macky Sall tweeted.“To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy“, he added.
“Three babies were saved”, said the mayor of Tivaouane, Demba Diop. The fire was caused by “a short circuit and the fire spread very quickly”said the one who is also a deputy and better known as Diop Sy.
At the beginning of April, another tragedy that occurred in a public hospital had already upset Senegal. The press had reported that Astou Sokhna, a woman in her thirties who was nine months pregnant, died on April 1 at the public hospital in Louga (north) after having waited in great pain for twenty days. hours the caesarean she was asking for.
Staff allegedly argued that her operation was unplanned and threatened to kick her out if she insisted. This death had sparked a wave of indignation on social networks against the shortcomings of the public health system.
Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr acknowledged on April 14 that Ms. Sokhna’s death could have been avoided. The director of the hospital was dismissed and replaced.