SCBMCH lacks infra for burn patients: Activists

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Cuttack: The Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) does not have proper facilities to treat patients with burns and related injuries, some social activists and attendants have alleged.
Absence of special infrastructure for burn patients at the hospital came to light when at least 16 injured people were referred to the premier health institute after firecracker explosions in Balasore and Puri districts recently.
It is learnt that the hospital authorities have failed to keep all injured people at one place. “One critically-injured person was treated in an ICU at the trauma care unit of SCBMCH while the remaining burn patients were kept at the plastic surgery and isolation wards. Five people succumbed to their injuries while being treated,” said a social activist.
The state government had constructed a four-storey building at the plastic surgery ward of the hospital in 2009 to provide proper healthcare to burn patients. It had planned to set up a 25-bed burns ward in the building. The special unit was included in the National Programme for Prevention and Management of Burn Injuries in 2010.
However, SCBMCH authorities are yet to make the special burns unit fully operational. At present, an outpatient unit of plastic surgery ward is functioning on the ground floor of the four-storey building while the first floor is being used for treatment of minor burns. At least eight ICUs and a modular operation theatre meant for people with burns on the second and third floors are yet to be made functional.
Sources claimed that the relatives of Balasore and Pipli firecracker explosion victims had opposed the treatment of burn patients at the isolation ward, which had earlier housed swine flu patients.
“People with burns need special care as there is every possibility of infection. Absence of proper infrastructure for burn patients has claimed several lives at the biggest government-run health institute in the state. The hospital authorities should take the issue seriously,” said a social activist.
SCBMCH superintendent Shyama Kanungo said they are taking steps to make the burns unit fully operational. Plastic surgery department chief Annada Patnaik said the hospital authorities will soon open the ICUs and modular OT at the burns unit.