Senegal President sacks health minister after hospital fire that killed eleven babies.
Written by News Room on May 28, 2022
Senegal’s President Macky Sall fired his health minister as his country mourned the death of 11 newborn babies in a hospital fire blamed on an electrical short circuit.
The tragedy late Wednesday in the western city of Tivaouane was just the latest in a series of hospital deaths that have exposed the weaknesses of the nation’s healthcare system.
Sall earlier announced the tragedy on Twitter and declared three days of national mourning.
Outside the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, a city with a population of 40,000, one of the distraught mothers called out for her son.
Her baby son was taken to the hospital 10 days ago and was baptised on Monday, Mohamed’s 54-year-old father Alioune Diouf said.
The city’s mayor Demba Diop said the fire had been caused by a short circuit and spread very quickly.
He denied allegations from relatives at the hospital and across social media that the babies had been left alone, saying a midwife and nurse were present on Wednesday evening.
The tragedy in Tivaouane comes after several other public health incidents in Senegal, which suffers from a great disparity between urban and rural areas in healthcare services.
Ango Bally
