PIMS Tragedy: PTI Seeks Health Minister's Resignation, Strict Accountability

Sheikh Waqas Demands Audit of Safety Protocols, Rejects Routine Eyewash

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary (CIS) Sheikh Waqas Akram voiced deep grief and profound sorrow over the deaths of 14 newborn infants in a deadly fire at the PIMS Gynaecology Ward Nursery, demanding an immediate and high-powered judicial inquiry to ascertain the cause of the blaze and penalize all individuals “whose criminal apathy turned a hospital nursery into a death trap”.

In a press statement on Wednesday, PTI CIS extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, assuring that the party stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them in this trying time and pledged to pursue the issue to its logical end until absolute justice is served.

Waqas demanded that the Federal Health Minister accept moral and administrative responsibility for this tragedy and resign immediately, as simply setting up inquiry committees and issuing canned statements was not enough after an incident of this magnitude.

Moreover, he demanded, “The relevant Head of Department and all officers and personnel whose negligence or dereliction of duty led to the loss of innocent lives be immediately arrested and prosecuted under the full force of the law.”

Waqas stated that no words could mitigate the grief of parents who trusted a public healthcare facility, only to lose their children to criminal apathy. PTI CIS criticized the operational readiness of the federal capital’s premier medical institution, highlighting that out of fifteen trapped infants, emergency protocols enabled the rescue of only a single newborn. He noted that an elite tertiary facility lacking functional, automated fire suppression systems and immediate evacuation measures to protect the defenceless newborns represents a grave failure of administrative oversight.

Addressing preliminary reports attributing the blaze to an electrical short circuit or an air-conditioner compressor explosion, Waqas emphasized that such incidents point directly to systemic maintenance neglect. He underscored that PIMS remains the primary federal healthcare center where high-profile national figures, including PTI Chairman Imran Khan, have been brought under state care. He stated that the lack of basic operational safety and fire response infrastructure raises significant concerns regarding overall public safety within state-run hospitals. 

Pointing to a dangerous pattern of fires in government facilities, Waqas criticized the tradition of forming routine inquiry committees as mere eyewash to pacify public anger, noting that such probes historically fail to fix responsibility or prevent future disasters.

Rejecting the routine inquiry committee announced by local authorities, PTI CIS called for the immediate constitution of an empowered and independent judicial commission, as the tragic incident once again exposed the absolute decay of administrative governance under the current incompetent setup.

He demanded that the proposed commission must audit the hospital’s safety protocols, inspect procurement and maintenance logs, and establish definitive accountability across the hospital management, maintenance contractors, and the health ministry. He pledged that PTI will raise this issue at every platform until absolute justice is delivered to the innocent souls lost to this unpardonable tragedy.