Al-Sadr calls on Al-Kazemi government to prosecute those responsible for Nasiriyah Hospital tragedy

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government to hold accountable those responsible for the fire in Nasiriyah Hospital (south), otherwise the government, big and small, will be held responsible for the tragedy.

Al-Sadr said in a tweet on Tuesday evening, "The government should strive seriously and resolutely to punish the negligent in the issue of burning hospitals, whether in Nasiriyah or in other provinces, regardless of their "political" affiliation.

He added, warning, "otherwise, we would have another action in a way that preserves the people's safety and dignity," calling for "accelerating the announcement of the results of the investigation as quickly as possible, and that its fate should not be the fate of the hospitals that were burned previously."

Iraq is still under the shock of the fire that destroyed a hospital wing designated for Covid-19 patients on Monday evening, killing at least 60 people. 

The fire at Nasiriyah Hospital, which sources said was caused by an oxygen explosion, is the second that devours a hospital in Iraq, after a similar fire broke out in April inside Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad killed 82 people and injuring dozens.

That fire sparked widespread angry reactions that prompted the then Minister of Health, Hassan al-Tamimi, who was supported by the Sadrist movement, to resign.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, after the tragedy of Nasiriyah Hospital, issued an order to dismiss and interrogate the director of health in Dhi Qar province, the director of Al-Hussein Hospital in Nasiriyah, and the director of civil defense in the province.

Also, orders were issued to arrest and interrogate ten other employees, according to judicial sources.

Iraq is scheduled to hold early parliamentary elections in October, which is the main demand of the October anti-government protests that were launched at the end and supported by the Sadrist movement, in 2019.