LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Wazir-e-Azam Shehbaz Sharif ne PIMS Hospital ke 8 ahalkaron ko fori taur par muattal karne ka hukm diya aur zimmedar qarar diye gaye afrad ke khilaf faujdari karwai ka hukm diya. Yeh hukm us waqt diya gaya jab tehqeeqati committee ne hospital ke neonatal ward mein lagne wali aag, jis mein nawazeeda bachche halak hue, par apni ibtidai report pesh ki. Yeh baat Wazir-e-Azam Office ki jaanib se Juma ko jari press release mein batayi gayi.
Wazir-e-azam ne waqie par aik aala satah ke ijlas ki sadarat ki, jis mein committee ke ibtidai nataij aag ki taqreeban 2 minute ki CCTV footage ke saath pesh kiye gaye. Unhon ne committee ki janib se nishandehi kiye gaye 8 ahalkaron ko fori taur par muattal karne ki manzoori di aur hukm diya ke un ke khilaf sirf mehkamana karwai nahin balke Pakistan ke faujdari qanoon ke teht bhi karwai ki jaye, aur hidayat ki ke yeh amal "bila imtiaz" mukammal kiya jaye.
Press release mein jin 8 ahalkaron ke naam diye gaye hain, woh yeh hain: PIMS ke Executive Director Professor Dr. Imran Sikandar; Joint Executive Directors Dr. Mutahir Shah aur Chaudhry Dr. Owais Ali Shah; Neonatal Department ki sarbarah Professor Dr. Sadia Riaz; Senior Registrar Dr. Nagham; Dr. Naushaba Amjad; PIMS ke Assistant Director Security Muhammad Usman; aur Capital Development Authority ki Emergency Service ke Director-General Dr. Abdul Rehman.
The prime minister also approved action against the private security company contracted for the hospital and its officials. Separately, he approved conferring the Sitara-e-Khidmat, a state civilian honour, on a nurse who saved a child’s life without regard for her own safety as the fire spread through the ward. A nurse and a female security guard who were on duty in the ward at the time have been made Officers on Special Duty pending further investigation. Dr. Muhammad Salman, CEO of the National Institutes of Health, has been directed to take over as PIMS’s acting executive director, with new appointments to replace the removed officials ordered to be made immediately and all at once. The prime minister also directed that the investigative committee’s interim report be made public without delay, with the Ministry of National Health Services set to publish it on its website shortly after the meeting.
“Those guilty of criminal negligence do not deserve any leniency,” the prime minister said, according to the press release. “Those responsible for this incident will be brought to justice. The deaths of innocent children is a tragic incident that has grieved the entire nation. My condolences, along with those of the entire nation, are with the children’s parents. Exemplary punishment will be ensured for those responsible, so that no mother is separated from her child again due to anyone’s criminal negligence.”
The briefing presented to the meeting detailed a series of systemic failures at the hospital. Investigators found PIMS had no detailed standard operating procedures or training in place for fire or emergency situations; of the hospital’s 13 SOPs, only two sub-sections made any reference to fire or emergency response. Supervisory staff were not on duty at the time of the incident, though two nurses, a female security guard, and a house officer were present in the ward. The fire spread through the entire ward in only about two minutes. Emergency services were called six minutes after the fire began, and the first emergency response arrived a further 15 minutes after that. The ward had no fire alarm or sprinkler system installed, and the neonatal ward was found to be in violation of World Health Organization guidelines on the matter. No hospital officer held direct responsibility for fire or emergency situations; the role had instead been assigned to the assistant director as an additional duty.
The briefing also noted that a fire had broken out at PIMS’s nursing hostel only a month earlier, in July, without serious safety measures being taken afterward. The meeting was separately briefed on the hospital’s broader state of disrepair and mismanagement. The prime minister thanked the investigative committee’s head, Shahid Khan, and its members, and directed that the investigation be completed with a more detailed report to follow.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, and Syed Mustafa Kamal, committee head Shahid Khan, committee members Barrister Nabeel Awan and Major General (Retired) Khurshid Atra, and other senior officials.
Source:
Prime Minister’s Office (Media Wing) press release, Lahore, August 29, 2026
