Footage aired on television showed rescue workers using ladders to reach broken windows to access the affected area. Footage showed grief-stricken women sitting on the ground outside the hospital. An AFP reporter saw a woman in tears and a man clear glass from two broken windows, as security guards stood at the entrance to the medical facility.
Several witnesses, their hands and faces blackened from the smoke, told AFP they waited hours for help from the emergency services. They were forced to smash through windows to try and get to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Others said they came across locked doors and alleged guards prevented those inside the building from leaving as the fire raged.
In a statement, the Islamabad administration said that the fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Hospital’s ward. It said that rescue teams rushed to the scene, with six fire brigade vehicles and four ambulances taking part in the rescue operation.
“The fire was immediately brought under control and the children were immediately shifted to the intensive care unit,” it said, adding that 14 children “were completely burnt”.
Pims Spokesperson Dr Aneeza Jalil told Dawn that 15 babies were in the ward. “At least one baby was saved by a doctor,” she said.
Speaking to Geo News, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said that the infants in the ward were either in incubators or on oxygen. He said the incident occurred at 6:45am due to a “blast in the air conditioner” inside the ward.
He said that the blast caused the fire, which was exacerbated due to the presence of the oxygen tanks. He confirmed that 14 infants had been killed, adding that law enforcement agencies were on the ground.
Later, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry insisted that there had not been any delay in the arrival of rescue teams and defended the district administration.
“After receiving information in the control room, they reached the hospital within six minutes,” the state minister said while speaking to the media in Islamabad.He added that once the rescue teams assessed the situation, 19 people were rescued, including seven children, 1o mothers and two men.
He also said that administration officials “from the assistant commissioner to commissioner to the Islamabad IG” reached the hospital to monitor the situation. “Not only did they monitor but also assisted in the rescue operation,” he said.
Chaudhry said that the bodies of all 14 infants had been handed over to their families.
He added that a report of the incident had been sent to the prime minister and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who he said had been monitoring the situation.
An inquiry committee has been formed for a “high-powered” investigation into the incident, Chaudhry added. He said the committee will collect evidence — CCTV footage, presence of flammable equipment, why the door was locked, the number of doctors and nurses present — and present its findings.
Reiterating that rescue teams reached the site within six minutes, the state minister said, “There appears to be no negligence on the part of rescue services”.However, he added, only the hospital administration could answer for the arrangements present within the hospital.
On being asked if Pims met the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) fire safety protocols, with the journalist also pointing out that his ministry had been issuing notices to the hospital for the past seven years, he acknowledged that notices had been issued.
“It is a huge institution, and notices were issued […] but what was complied with and what was not — as there are multiple buildings; we cannot conclude anything today, and an inquiry committee has been formed”.
Asked why the administration had not been active on the fire safety issue before, he said, “If there has been any negligence, the inquiry committee will find out.” In its update on the incident, CDA said fire and rescue teams reached the site within seven minutes after a call was received at 6:54am.
Fire tenders, rescue teams, ambulances of the Capital Emergency Services (CES) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration were part of the deployed resources.
Malik Israr, whose niece was admitted to the gynae ward, told Dawn that it was unfortunate the nursery was housed in a building in which repair and renovation work was ongoing.
“After the fire erupted, they told patients to vacate the building. Women who had just given birth had to rush down the stairs from the second floor,” he said.
A worker removes broken pieces of a glass window after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Islamabad on Aug 26, 2026. — Reuters
Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive.
“I lost my daughter. She was only three days old,” he said. “My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help.”
He added, “The fire erupted at 6am, rescue and authorities reached at 9am; people were helping themselves.”
“Give me my child back,” Jaweria, who lost her newborn, said outside the hospital. “I want justice.”
She told AFP: “Rescue teams arrived too late. Police arrived after four hours and said they are here to investigate. To hell with you, rescue team and police. Babies burnt to death there, but nobody could save them.”
“For two hours I kept crying and wailing,” the mother said, questioning the action taken by hospital staff and emergency responders.
“Why did the doctors leave the children there? One nurse, one doctor, one gynaecologist, one paediatrician — there was nobody in the entire ward. Why were they not there?”
Mudasir, another parent who also lost his child, said all doors of the ward, except one, were shut and that there was “no fire security” in the ward.
A mother with black residue from the smoke on her hands stood crying outside the hospital as she held her 10-day-old baby in her arms.
“People were screaming. There was black smoke. We ran for our lives. Thank god my baby is safe,” Shagufta Parveen told AFP.Ali Abbas, 20, was with his sister who was a patient in the ward.
“There was a short circuit in the nursery, in the children’s ward,” he said. “It was full of smoke.” Eyewitness Abdul Ghafoor told AFP that there was “thick black smoke inside and patients were trapped”.
“I barged in to try to save as many people as I could, but we could not reach the ward where the patients were.
“The fire was in the nursing room, and we could not see anything. Some of us broke the windows to help people get out.” Pims, established in 1985, is Islamabad’s biggest public sector hospital. It is one of the oldest health facilities in the federal capital and comprises several hospitals and teaching institutes.
Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and directed the relevant authorities to investigate the incident. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), he expressed deep sorrow and grief at the incident and offered his condolences to the bereaved families.
“Such a situation involving children is unbearable,” the statement quoted him as saying.
“The circumstances that led to the incident should be thoroughly reviewed, those responsible should be identified, and the strictest possible action should be taken,” he said.
In a second statement, the PMO said the prime minister had suspended and removed federal Health Secretary Muhammad Aslam Ghauri.The premier chaired a high-level meeting on the incident, where he expressed his anger and issued directives for “strict action”, the PMO said in another statement.
It also stated that the prime minister suspended the federal health secretary and asked him to leave the meeting.The statement quoted the prime minister as saying: “I am heartbroken at this tragic incident and share the parents’ grief.”
Subsequently, Captain (retired) Muhammad Mahmood, a BS-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), was appointed to the post of health secretary for three months “or till the posting of a regular incumbent,” a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said.
According to the PMO, a high-level inquiry committee, headed by former interior secretary Shahid Khan, has launched an investigation.
State-run APP reported that Establishment Division Secretary Dr Barrister Nabeel Awan was also included in the committee.