Kochi: The State Human Rights Commission’s order the other day to form an expert committee to study and submit a report on the facilities in burns units at medical colleges in the state has kindled hopes in changing the fortune of the burns unit at Ernakulam Government Meical College (EMC) which has a nominal facility to admit 10 patients. With the Eloor industrial hotspot and several other industrial establishments including BPCL-KRL and the Naval Armament Depot situated in Ernakualm, the city is hardly prepared to meet an eventuality of even the magnitude of the Puttingal tragedy.
It was because of the eminence of the burns unit at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, which alone has such a good facility in the government sector in the state, that the impact of the Puttingal calamity was mitigated. This came in for praise from doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi who flew in with the Prime Minister at that time.
However, the facilities at all other government hospitals have hardly anything to be desired.
“EMC doesn’t have a plastic surgeon who is essential to assist in case of a fire tragedy. In fact there should be sufficient number of plastic surgeons. There are not even adequate number of surgeons at the hospital The current in-patients facility allows admission of only 10 burn victims which is grossly inadequate in the case of a place like Ernakulam. Kottayam Medical College which lies so close to Sabarimala needs to have a full-fledged burns unit,” said Dr N K Sanil Kumar, volunteer of Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement who petitioned the HR panel on the lack of burns unit facilities in government hospitals in the state.
The HR panel has asked to form a committee comprising burns unit experts from AIIMS, CMC Vellore and JIPMER, Pondicherry to assess the situations in the Kerala medical colleges and suggest remedial measures. “The hospitals need to have the hyperbaric oxygen therapy which is essential in treating burn victims. Burns treatment is an area not keenly tapped by private hospitals as long-time care is needed in the case of many patients and also because burn victims mostly belong to the lower strata of the society,” said Dr Sanil Kumar.
