“I extend my deepest condolences to their mother and their family,” he added.
In a statement later Thursday, the country’s health ministry said an emergency response plan had been drawn up and “assistance was being provided to the families of the victims.”
The ministry statement added that Health Minister Abdoulaye Duf Sur, who attended the World Health Assembly in Geneva, had shortened his visit and would return to Senegal today.
The president has called for an investigation into the cause of the fire at Sal Hospital, with Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Dioum telling reporters during a visit to the hospital on Wednesday night.
“Apart from that, he (President Sal) has said that we review all the equipment and infrastructure dedicated to newborns who need the help of machines for their care,” Diom said.
“We are going to do this here in Tijuana and all the hospitals in Senegal where there is a neonatal service,” he added.
Senegal’s Minister of Regional Planning and Local Government, Chek Bamba Die, has called for an investigation into the country’s health system, calling the deadly incident “horrific and unacceptable.”
