Five infants dead, and the audits begin now
A fire and heavy smoke spread through RIMS-Adilabad’s newborn unit on September 21. The toll has risen to five; the final cause remains unestablished.
The cause of the RIMS-Adilabad fire remains under inquiry as safety audits begin.
Five infants have died after a fire and heavy smoke spread through the Special Newborn Care Unit at RIMS-Adilabad late on September 21. Reports place the incident at about 11.40 p.m. The unit held roughly 24–27 infants, although the public accounts do not yet agree on the number.
The Telangana government has ordered an inquiry, while Health Minister C. Damodar Rajanarasimha has directed electrical, fire-safety and structural audits of the hospital. Officials have said preliminary findings point to an AC-related electrical fault, but no final technical report has been published. The inquiry, rather than the first convenient explanation, will have to establish what happened.
The Telangana Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance and sought a report from the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, with the next hearing reported for October 27. The Commission says it wants the facts behind the deaths and the safety and maintenance arrangements at the unit. The records that would answer those questions—maintenance logs, inspection reports, staffing data and forensic findings—are still not public. The audits have arrived after the emergency, which is how audits usually get invited.