(Dakar) Eleven babies died on Wednesday 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.
Posted yesterday at 10:33 p.m.
“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 public hospital in Tivaouane, tweeted Senegalese President Macky Sall.
“To their moms and 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 Mr. Diop, who is also an MP 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 1er April at the public hospital in Louga (north) after having waited in great pain for about twenty hours for 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.
Faced with the outcry caused by the death of Mme Sokhna, President Sall had instructed to seek responsibility.
The Minister of Health, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, acknowledged on April 14 that the death of Mme Sokhna could have been avoided. The director of the hospital was dismissed and replaced.
Three midwives who were on duty the night of the tragedy were given a six-month suspended prison sentence on May 11 for “failure to assist a person in danger” by the Louga High Court. Three other midwives, on call during the day, were released, according to a defense lawyer.
“Painful situation”
“This situation is very regrettable and extremely painful. The investigation is underway to see what happened” at Tivaouane hospital, Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr said on RFM radio on Wednesday.
Mr. Sarr, on a trip to Geneva where he was attending a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that he was returning to Senegal on Thursday.
A team from the Ministry of Health, led by the director of public health establishments Ousmane Dia, was on its way to Tivaouane, we learned from the ministry.
Interior Minister Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome was also expected overnight from Wednesday to Thursday in Tivaouane, according to the local press.
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.
The tragedy occurred in Tivaouane, a religious city, stronghold of the influential Muslim brotherhood of the Tidianes of Senegal.
“More burnt babies in a public hospital. This is unacceptable Macky Sall,” tweeted opposition MP Mamadou Lamine Diallo.
Four newborns had already perished 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, where there were six babies.
Another case in a public hospital caused a scandal recently. In Kaolack (center), an infant declared dead on May 8 by a nurse and then deposited in the morgue was found alive by his father a few minutes later, before finally dying during the day, according to the local press.
The prosecution requested a six-month sentence against the nurse during the trial, local press reported on Wednesday. The date of the verdict has not been specified.