ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered the suspension of eight officials and called for criminal action against anyone found culpable in a devastating hospital fire in Islamabad that claimed the lives of 14 newborn babies, according to a statement from his office on Saturday.
The directive came after an inquiry panel, led by retired senior bureaucrat Shahid Khan, submitted its interim findings into Wednesday’s blaze at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, widely known as PIMS, the prime minister’s office said.
Authorities said the fire was limited to a nursery on the hospital’s third floor, but the flames moved with such speed that staff could save only one infant out of the 15 newborns receiving care inside the unit.
According to the preliminary investigation, the nursery was not equipped with a fire alarm or sprinkler system. The report also pointed to the absence of clear emergency protocols and proper fire response training at the Islamabad hospital, the statement added.
The tragedy has sparked widespread outrage across Pakistan, with bereaved families and civil society organizations pressing for answers, accountability and stronger safety measures in public hospitals.
“Those guilty of criminal negligence deserve no leniency,” Sharif was quoted as saying.
He ordered departmental and criminal proceedings against those identified by the committee.
The eight included the hospital’s executive director, two joint executive directors, the head of the neonatal department, two other doctors, the hospital’s assistant director for security and the head of the Capital Development Authority’s emergency services.
Sharif also approved action against a company responsible for hospital security and its officials.
The government also already announced compensation of 5 million rupees (about $18,000) for each bereaved family.
The statement said the interim inquiry found that supervisory staff were not on duty when the fire began. Two nurses, a female security guard and a house officer were in the ward.
Emergency services were not called until six minutes after the fire started, and the first emergency responders arrived 15 minutes after receiving the call, the statement said.
Investigators found that only two subsections of the hospital’s 13 standard operating procedures referred to fires or other emergencies.
About two minutes of surveillance video of the nursery fire was shown during Saturday’s meeting. The footage was not immediately released.
The interim report said a nurse risked her life to save a baby before the flames spread through the ward. Sharif approved a recommendation that she receive the Sitara-i-Khidmat, a state award recognizing public service.
The deaths have prompted broader reviews of fire-safety measures at hospitals across Pakistan. The government in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, this week ordered an immediate review of fire-safety systems, firefighting equipment and emergency-response facilities at hospitals.
Sharif earlier dismissed Health Secretary Aslam Ghauri, the Health Ministry’s highest-ranking civil servant, after the blaze.
The fire was among Pakistan’s deadliest recent tragedies involving children. In June, 14 schoolchildren were killed when the roof of a tutoring center under construction collapsed in the eastern city of Lahore.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.