Senegal's health minister sacked after 11 babies die in Tivaouane hospital
Parents of children who died in the fire at the hospital in Tivouane, Senegal, the day after the tragedy, May 26, 2022. AFP - SEYLLOU
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
A three-day national mourning was also decreed from this Thursday after the tragedy that occurred at the Tivaouane hospital, about a hundred kilometers northeast of Dakar, where 11 newborn babies died in a fire.
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Senegalese President Macky Sall sacked his Minister of Health Abdoudaye Diouf Sarr on Thursday evening May 26 after
the death of eleven babies at the public hospital in Tivaouane on
Wednesday, his services announced in a decree read on public television.
The Head of State "
has appointed Doctor Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye Minister of Health and Social Action to replace Mr. Abdoudaye Diouf Sarr
", announced the presidency.
Will this be enough to calm the ambient anger?
In front of the Tivouane hospital, residents gathered to express their desolation on Thursday.
While the parents of the victims are reunited with the crisis unit dispatched by the Ministry of Health inside the hospital, Mustapha Cissé is waiting for explanations.
His brother had already lost his wife during childbirth, he has just lost his 22-day-old baby.
“
He was premature, that's why he had to stay there.
We have bitterness, deep sorrow
, ”he confides at the microphone of our special correspondent,
Charlotte Idrac
.
After
the death of four infants at Linguere hospital
in April 2021, the drama of Astou Sokhna,
who died in childbirth at Louga hospital
last month, it has to stop, sighs Awa Ba: "
It repeats itself, and it's the last straw.
The authorities must put an end to these tragedies in the hospitals, that they put the means, and the material so that it works, that is enough.
»
This retiree who worked for 25 years at the Tivaouane maternity hospital is fatalistic: “
I know the hospital well, the staff work well, there is a good welcome, what happened is the will of God.
But this time, Ahmed Alamine Niane expects firm action from the government: “
It's a desolate situation, frankly, it's deplorable.
We ask the State of Senegal to place the responsibilities.
»
In the afternoon, the mayor of Tivaouane Demba Diop Sy confirmed the death toll of eleven babies.
None survived.
He speaks of a short circuit, dismisses "
negligence
", and calls for letting justice do its job.
According to the first information, it seems that there had been a short circuit in the room where the children were housed.
In this room there are oxygen circuits.
It seems that there was a short circuit, a gas leak and that it exploded [...] The room was inaugurated in December 2021, these are new equipment [...] There is no had no neglect issues, interviews were done on time, on time [...]
Demba Diop Sy
The Interior Ministry says an investigation has been opened.
In a message on Twitter, President Macky Sall expressed "
his pain
" and his "
dismay
".
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Senegal
Health and medicine