The series of fires did not stop in Iraq, where state institutions, especially service ones, witness from time to time large fires that kill dozens, and these fires are usually justified by the presence of electrical shorts, and the investigation is closed.
The last of these fires was the fire that broke out, on Saturday evening, in Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital, which specializes in treating patients with coronavirus and other communicable diseases, located at the confluence of the Diyala River with the Tigris River in the Jisr Diyala area (southeast of Baghdad), close to the old nuclear reactor station. .
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the final outcome of the hospital fire victims was the death of 82 people who died of severe burns or suffocation, and the injury of 110 others, a toll described as terrifying. The injured, who were evacuated from Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital, have been transferred to other isolation hospitals inside Baghdad, and they are receiving the necessary treatment.
Multiple narrations
There are many narrations regarding the nature of the fire, as there are those who say that a spark of fire touched one of the oxygen cylinders, and those who say that a device for heating food - that was for a patient's escort - was close to an oxygen cylinder that led to the fire.
Al-Jazeera Net contacted a relative of one of the fire victims, as his uncle died as a result of suffocation, while he was lying in the hospital due to his corona injuries, while he was under an oxygen respirator.
The young Hussein, who is from the Zaafaraniya neighborhood in Baghdad near the hospital, says that the fire broke out due to the ignition of an oxygen cylinder inside the pulmonary resuscitation hall on the second floor, and it quickly spread to other cylinders and halls, and that his uncle (41 years old) died of suffocation. His brothers, who were accompanying him, were able to evacuate him and others before the fire intensified and destroyed the entire hospital, indicating that among the victims were dozens of women, and that his uncle was married and had 4 children, the oldest of whom was 9 years old.
The Civil Defense Directorate revealed information about the fire, confirming in a statement that it started with the explosion of an oxygen cylinder, pointing to the rescue of 90 injured patients lying in hospital corridors through windows and external emergency stairs, which were put in place by the Civil Defense rescue teams.
According to the statement, the hospital is devoid of a fire system and secondary ceilings, which led to the rapid spread of fire because it contained highly flammable cork materials, indicating that most of the victims were cut off from oxygen because they were transported from the hospital corridors during the evacuation and rescue operations.
Negligence and Negligence
The security expert, Safaa Al-Aasam, ruled out that the accident was caused by an actor, attributing this to negligence resulting from poor storage method, and the failure of the fire extinguishing system, indicating that investigations will reveal the causes of the fire.
And about the existence of a defect in the security system responsible for protecting state institutions, Al-Aasam told Al-Jazeera Net that the defect is clear and very large, especially since Iraq has spent millions of dollars on training courses for protecting institutions and facilities; But to no avail, until we became one of the countries that resemble underdeveloped countries, especially since Iraq today needs an integrated security system at the level of civil defense, speed of response, police presence and monitoring process, indicating that the recurring imbalance results from quotas and placing the wrong person in the wrong place.
The head of the Center for Political Thinking, Dr. Ihsan Al-Shammari, also ruled out that there were political hands behind the fire incident, as the indications confirm the existence of negligence and negligence on the part of the hospital workers and the absence of safety conditions, and therefore the Minister of Health bears the administrative responsibility, the Governor of Baghdad and the Director General of Health. Rusafa.
Al-Shammari told Al-Jazeera Net that what is remarkable about the matter is that the process of political exploitation was very clear from political parties, as these parties did not take into account the magnitude of the catastrophe and tragedy as much as they used it as a means of political projection and electoral calculations rather than diagnosing the imbalance or being supportive of the measures they took. The government, noting that the attacking parties themselves are responsible for quotas and corruption, and their economic committees are in many ministries, including health, so the process of political exploitation was clear.
A dangerous development
A member of the Human Rights Commission in Iraq, Ali al-Bayati, told Al-Jazeera Net that what happened in Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital is a serious development that requires a real pause, not words and statements from the concerned institutions, especially since the numbers speak of About 200 people died or were injured, and the reason is clear and it is a real failure in occupational safety and fire prevention measures, indicating that this is not the first time that such disasters have occurred due to the absence of real oversight, so this event should not pass without knowing the real reasons and holding the negligent accountable.
While the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, ordered the withdrawal of the hands of the Minister of Health, Hassan Al-Tamimi, the Governor of Baghdad, Muhammad Al-Atta, and the Director General of the Rusafa Health Department, Abd Al-Ghani Al-Saadi, and referred them to investigation, the Supreme Judicial Council announced the arrest of the director of Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital and a number From the hospital staff until the completion of the investigations of the fire tragedy and the identification of the negligent persons in the accident.
The legal expert, Tariq Harb, stressed to Al-Jazeera Net the importance of taking legal measures against the negligent in accordance with the Iraqi Penal Code, considering the act as a mistake and not intentional killing, and the punishment is severe due to the large number of dead and wounded, and measures are also taken against them in accordance with the law of state employees from withdrawing a hand or isolating And the Prime Minister may dismiss the minister in accordance with Article 78 of the Constitution, especially since the competent court has begun its work and has begun an investigation into the incident.
Defects and shortcomings
The anti-corruption activist, Saeed Yassin Moussa, believes that the defect lies in the absence of adopting public policies, deficiencies in environmental analysis, review, evaluation, evaluation, follow-up, and incompetence of administrations.
Mousa told Al-Jazeera Net that "the shortcomings are not only in the health sector, because corruption is the active ruler, and that the Corona pandemic revealed the financial and administrative corruption in the health sector, not to mention the failure to adopt safety, protection and quality standards."
For his part, the head of the Dhar Foundation for Development, Majid Abu Kilal, confirmed in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the first reason for the occurrence of such fires is the corruption associated with the design and implementation of construction and maintenance contracts for government buildings, corruption that inflates costs and in return reduces technical specifications and exacerbates the situation when it is The implementation is of poor quality, with clear complicity on the part of the controlling and beneficiary authorities. Abu Kilal expressed his fears that the burning of Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital will not be the last, especially since the investigation committees formed by the government are useless due to the political coverage of the crimes of the corrupt. Unfortunately, this is our reality and we hope that the situation will change with the efforts of benefactors, if they exist .
About the hospital
It is noteworthy that Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital was established in the early sixties of the last century, and it specializes in treating transitional and respiratory diseases. from Andalusia.
The area on which the hospital was previously built is known as Al-Tuwaitha, as it is popularly known as Al-Tuwaitha Hospital.