ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday ordered fire-safety and other reforms at Islamabad’s largest public hospital to be completed within three months, weeks after a nursery blaze killed 14 newborn babies.

The Aug. 26 fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) prompted multiple investigations into safety and emergency-response failures at the facility. A final government inquiry released this week found “systemic and institutional failure” and said an electrical cable linked to an air-conditioning unit was the most probable source of the blaze.

The inquiry assigned principal institutional responsibility to PIMS and its senior management, saying known fire-safety risks and earlier warnings had not been converted into effective safeguards. The government had earlier suspended eight officials and ordered criminal proceedings following an interim inquiry.

At a meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, Sharif reviewed the final inquiry and a separate health ministry performance audit of PIMS, according to a statement from his office.

“Implementation of the short-term measures proposed in the inquiry report must be ensured within the next three months,” Sharif was quoted as saying.

The government said the performance audit found PIMS at only 39.7 percent compliance across assessed indicators against an acceptable target of 90 percent, highlighting deficiencies extending beyond the fire-safety failures exposed by last month’s blaze.

Officials told Sharif that work was underway on 37 measures recommended in the inquiry report, while short-, medium- and long-term plans were also being prepared, the statement said.

Sharif ordered authorities to seek assistance from the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) on improving fire-safety systems and to review and implement recommendations contained in a World Health Organization report on the hospital.

He also directed officials to include free provision of medicines and hospital services in the reform plan, appoint “personnel of good repute” and prepare a longer-term roadmap to bring PIMS in line with international standards.

The prime minister expanded the fire-safety directive beyond PIMS, ordering Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority to ensure compliance with safety measures at all public and private hospitals in the federal capital. He also instructed the CDA and other relevant agencies to conduct fire-safety audits of government and private offices and buildings across Islamabad and ensure required safeguards were implemented.

The final PIMS inquiry released on Tuesday found that the hospital had received repeated warnings about fire-safety weaknesses before the nursery blaze, including after a July fire at its nursing hostel. It said deficiencies involving detection and alarm systems, electrical inspections, evacuation procedures, firefighting equipment and emergency preparedness had not been fully addressed before the Aug. 26 disaster.