Fires, symptoms & the disease

Accidents are nurtured over years; they don’t happen just like that — Qabil Ajmeri MY last column on these pages was titled ‘ Collapse and consequences ’. I borrowed ‘collapse’ from the interior minister and added the consequences myself, illustrating the latter with the fast-unfolding HIV epidemic in Pakistan . The epidemic has infected at least 7,500 innocent children; they contracted the virus through unsafe medical care at our health facilities.

Today, when I sat down to write this column, another horrible consequence of collapse is before me — 14 newborns died in the fire at the Mother and Child Health Ward of the largest public sector hospital in Islamabad. One columnist has called it murder, and rightly so. Indeed, the catastrophe on August 26 has sent shockwaves through the system and society. When and how it leads to a seismic shift is yet to be seen. Most people are not very hopeful. They believe that the incident will gradually fade away. Other shocking headlines will replace it in the media and public memory. But I disagree. Being a chronic optimist, the only option I have is hope. The system will change. It has to change. There is no other option. The fire and the…