Tareen Rahman :
Country’s all government and private hospitals are struggling to provide treatment to patients with burn injuries due to lack of burn units as well as accommodation facilitates.
Besides, on rush of burn victims to these hospitals throughout the country everyday is putting extra pressure on the physicians. The scenario is even worse outside the capital. Al most all patients outside the capital are being given treatment at the surgery unit and intensive care unit.
“It has now become very difficult for us to give treatment to the burn victims as the burn unit has already become overcrowded with the groaning cries of the burn victims and more number of burn victims are being admitted in the hospitals each day,” Dr. Partha Shankar Pal, Resident Surgeon of plastic surgery and Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital told The New Nation in an exclusive interview yesterday.
Apart from regular patients, he said country’s all hospitals are now facing serious problems as every day new victims are being admitted. “Condition of some burn victims is stated to be critical. At present 54 burn victims are being treated at the burn unit of DMCH,” he mentioned.
Talking to this reporter Johurul Islam, a family member of a burn victim, said that his father-in-law met the tragic incident in a passenger bus near Konabari of Jatrabari area.
“The miscreants hurled a petrol bomb into the bus soon after it departed ,” he said, adding two of the passengers died on the spot.
All the rest 39 passengers including his father-in-law was admitted in hospital. This incident took place on January 23. Even after getting treatment and being released by the medical college authorities, his father-in-law became ill again from his injuries when he was taken home. Accordingly, he had to be readmitted in the hospital.
Dr. Pal added that one good news is that victims of recent arson attacks taken to the Burn Unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital are now able to access psycho-social care from the international medical humanitarian organization ‘Doctors Without Borders (MSF)’.
From January 31, MSF began working under an agreement made directly with Dhaka Medical College Hospital. They are giving consultations to patients suffering from psychological problems as a result of the traumatic experiences they have suffered.
The trauma of suffering a serious burn, coupled with the permanent disfiguring of the face and body, can lead to severe and long-term psychological problems that impact a person’s ability to live and work. Many of the patients are the primary earners in their family.
Dr. Pal added that they are contacting regularly with other medical college burn units to find out the state of arson attack patients there. He said Dhaka Medical College authorities are extending all out efforts to help these burn victims.
Dr. Pal was gravely concerned about the political crisis in the nation and expressed hope that all concerned parties will come to their senses to resolve the issue very soon.
