Expressing the need for a separate registry for burns victims, K. Sridhar, senior vice-president (Medical) of SRM Institute of Medical Science (SIMS), said, “There is no exact data on the kind of burn victims which will allow for a proper prevention strategy for burns.”
He was speaking at the launch of a comprehensive burns care unit at SIMS on Wednesday.
Speaking of the different kinds of burn victims, R. Krishnamoorthy, senior consultant at the Institute of Plastic Surgery at SIMS said the most common type of burns are flame burns. Apart from this, a number of children with scalds, workers with electric burns and acid burn victims are fairly common at most hospitals, he said.
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While insurance coverage for burns is available for up to one lakh, there is a need for more support from the government and other agencies, Dr. Sridhar said. Treatment of burn shock, infection control and burn wound care is necessary in order to improve the outcome of treatment and reduce the mortality and morbidity of burn victims, he said.
The new ward is a six-bed ICU with facilities including temperature control, positive pressure laminar flow ventilation handled by a separate air handling unit, burn bath tub and ventilators for critical cases, he said.