(CMR) Eleven newborn babies died Wednesday when a fire allegedly caused by a short circuit tore through the neonatal section of a regional hospital in Tivaouane, Senegal.
‘I have just learned with pain and consternation the death of 11 newborn babies in the fire that occurred in the neonatology department of the Mme Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital in Tivaouane,' Senegal's President Macky Sall said in a Tweet.
‘To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy,' he added.
Health minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was in Geneva attending a meeting with the World Health Organization, said he would return to Senegal immediately.
“This situation is very unfortunate and extremely painful. An investigation is underway to see what happened,” he said.
Three babies were saved.
The tragedy in Tivaouane reportedly comes after several other incidents at public health facilities in Senegal, where there is a great disparity between urban and rural areas in healthcare services.
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