1.5 lakh burn patients to get treatment annually

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BSS, Dhaka :
As many as 1.5 lakh burn patients would get treatment annually from the proposed 500-bed international standard burn and plastic surgery institute, which would also produce 15-20 specialists every year. “We require 1,500 burn specialists across the country to provide treatment but we have only 52 burn specialists,” National Chief Coordinator of Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit in Bangladesh Dr Samanta Lal Sen told BSS here on Thursday. He said the government has decided to establish a 500-bed international standard burn and plastic surgery institute here aimed at providing treatment to 1.5 lakh patients annually. “The proposed burn institute would also train doctors on burn and plastic surgery subject for enabling them to provide better treatment to the burn patients across the country,” Dr Sen said. He said around six lakh people are suffering burn injuries from different causes across the country every year. “Prime Minister Sheiukh Hasina directed the concerned authorities to build a modern as well as international standard Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute with 500-bed facilities which would ensure higher education, training, research and treatment facilities,” he said.
Referring to scarcity of doctors in the country to deal with the growing number of burn patients, Dr Samanta Lal Sen said the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute would train doctors and produce specialists for proving more advanced treatment to the burn patients.
According to an official, presently some 50,000 burn patients are receiving treatment unit per year from only 52 burn specialists. The detailed project proposal (DPP) is being prepared for establishing the institute, he said. The present government is pledge-bound to reach improved healthcare facilities to the doorsteps of the common people. Initiatives have already been taken to establish burn units at all government medical college hospitals, divisional hospitals and district hospitals in the country.
The Awami League government during its 1996-2001 tenure established the first ever 50-bed burn unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, which was later expanded to a 100-bed hospital during its 2009-2014 term.
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