Kashmir reports 20,000 burn injuries annually with 15,000 require hospitalization. Officials said that most of the burn injuries are not always suicidal but mostly caused by accidents.
“Every year around 20,000 people are treated for burn injuries in Kashmir. Among them around 15,000 are admitted in the hospital,” they said.
Officials said during winters, the case of fire incidents and subsequent burn injuries are very high.
“Leakage of the domestic LPG cylinders are mostly the cause for major fire incidents, besides that Kangri and kerosene are also responsible for burn injuries,” they said. “The elderly are most prone to fire splashes while infants get burn injuries by hot-water-spilling.
Consultant Plastic Surgery at Super Specialty Hospital – GMC Srinagar, Dr. Mir Yasir said that kids constitute more than 50 per cent of the burn incidents.
“Sometimes hot water, tea or milk, gets spilt on kids due to carelessness. These burns are called scaled burns,” Mir said.
Experts said that in case of fire people should stop the burning by removing clothes and irrigating the burns, extinguish flames by allowing the patient to roll on the ground or by using water or the other fire-extinguishing liquids, wrap the patient in a clean cloth or sheet and transport to the nearest health care center.
“In case burn injuries, apply first aid before ensuring your own safety (switch off electrical current, wear gloves for chemicals etc), don’t apply paste oil, haldi (turmeric) or raw cotton to the burn, avoid prolonged cooling with water because it will lead to hypothermia, don’t open blisters until topical antimicrobials can be applied such as by a health-care provider,” they said.
Head Plastic Surgery SMHS Srinagar Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Professor said whenever a person is burnt, it depends on two factors that is the temperature of the burning agent and the time for which it remained in contact with the body.
“One more thing is to access whether the injured patient can be managed at home or needs to be taken to hospital,” he said.
“Some patients are burnt massively affecting their arms and legs and the infection caused by burns can turn critical and may take healing difficult or even prolong it, experts said,” adding that these injuries may also lead to sepsis and infections, which may further lead to gangrene in fingers, arms and legs.
India reports 70 lakh burn injuries annually with a mortality rate of around 1.4 lakh per year besides that an additional 2.4 lakh patients end up with severe deformities.