On Thursday morning, Diali Kaba's mother awoke her with frightening news: a fire had engulfed the hospital in their village in Senegal, where Kaba's two-week-old daughter was being cared for, and 11 newborns had perished.
Kaba was let in to see if her kid was among the victims after the two ladies went to the hospital together, while her mother Ndeye Absa Gueye waited outside.
Gueye said she learned about the fire at the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital on Wednesday night but didn't realize it was in the newborn ward at the time. On Thursday morning, she received the news, which filled her with dread.
"My granddaughter is staying with me for the next two weeks. I've come to find out if she's one of them "she stated
Kaba reappeared a few minutes later, crying. Her baby was one among the victims. Kaba was assisted into a car and taken home to grieve, and the two ladies hugged, both crying.
Tivaouane, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Senegal's capital Dakar, is a significant road transit hub and holy city that draws vast crowds of Muslim pilgrims from all across the west African country on a daily basis.
The city was slowly waking up to the devastating news of the 11 newborn fatalities, which President Macky Sall announced late Wednesday night. "We're all in this together," said Ousmane Kane, a local resident. "They (the moms) endured in the hopes of saving their children. However, we must submit to Allah's will. He gave them infants and then returned them. Senegal as a whole is in grief."
According to early investigations, the fire was caused by a short-circuit, according to Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr of the private Senegalese television channel TFM. Authorities did not offer any more information regarding how the catastrophe occurred.
Many underfunded and understaffed African hospitals have been strained beyond their capacity by the COVID outbreak, leaving them unable to maintain appropriate safety standards, according to public health specialists. The catastrophe in Tivaouane follows a series of terrible instances in Senegalese hospitals that have enraged the country.
A mother and her unborn child died in April when medical professionals declined to perform a Caesarean section.
A fire at a hospital in the northern town of Linguere killed four newborn infants last year, sparking a nationwide outrage.
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