ISLAMABAD: Out of the total around 100,000 burn patients reported to the Burn Care Centre (BCC) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) during the last ten years, an overwhelming majority (around 70 per cent) were pediatric burns, who could be prevented by education of families and by practising strict safety protocols.
This startling revelation was made in the clinical data of PIMS of the last 10 years, which was released here on Saturday on the completion of the ten years of the centre, which was inaugurated by the then president Pervez Musharraf on December 6, 2007.
This is the first and till date the only facility of its kind in the public sector of Pakistan, which was established in accordance with the latest international standards for the management of acute burn care and long-term sequel.
BCC Director Dr Tariq Iqbal, during his talk to a selected group of journalists, said that despite many medical advances, burns continue to remain a challenging problem in the developing world, and it could be judged from the fact that there is only one state-of-the-art BCC in Pakistan.
He said that in the last 10 years, the centre has emerged as the best facility in the country to treat all sorts of major burns and have managed more than 94,664 patients with a recovery rate of 74%, while mortality rate was reduced markedly to 26 per cent.
However, he said that, out of the total burn patients, 70 per cent of the total burns were pediatric burns (majority household scalds & flame), which can be prevented by education of families and through practising strict safety protocols.
According to the data, during the last year, a total of 94,664 patients reported to the facility, of which 51,118 were male, while 43,546 were female.
The data showed that during this period, 8,330 patients were admitted to the facility, of which 6,165 were discharged after full recovery, while 2,165 succumbed to their injuries.
He announced that the BCC is organising the first ever two-day burns conference Burncon-2017 scheduled for December 5-6, 2017, in Islamabad which would be attended by around 500 participants, including participants from UK and USA. The conference is aimed at providing a true interactive forum, where new ideas, current outcomes and future perspective can be exchanged and explored. The main focus of the conference would be with an emphasis on current evidence based on delivery of care, quality of care, outcome measurement and preventive protocols.
He said that public awareness from dangerous practices at home and workplaces, as well as an introduction of strict safety protocols for all gas and electric appliances, were of utmost importance, as the data showed that 99 per cent of burns were accidental.
“We have the highest incidence of high voltage electric burn injuries in South East Asia just because many high tension lines are passing overcrowded residential areas,” he added.
He said that there is no gas alarming system in the country, and the government needed to subsidise the safety gadgets, as only 15,000 burn patients reported to the facility last year.
“Since 2014, the centre has introduced postgraduate teaching programmes in burns for doctors, recognised by PMDC,” he added.
Dr Tariq said that burn victim’s mortality rate in Pakistan is beyond proportion when compared with other countries. “For instance, in our country, the mortality rate of a major burn, i.e. 40-50 per cent body surface area, is 86 per cent, which is less than 20 per cent in the developed world,” he explained.
He said that in treating major burns, time is an important factor, as the resuscitation must start in the first golden hour in order to save a life, adding that burn centres are not only saving lives, but the patients recover completely or with minimum morbidity.
Hence, he said, that the authorities should be stressed to establish burn centres in all major cities, and burn units at all DHQ hospitals with quick transportation tools.
He said that PIMS BCC accommodated all acute burns reporting from Islamabad. However, he added that they were passing through great ordeal due to space issue since patients are coming from across the country—even from Afghanistan.
He said that due to lack of infrastructure, trained professionals and very high cost of treatment, the number of referral from other cities has increased many folds, resulting in a lot of patients being denied due to non-availability of beds at this centre.
He said that establishing a burn care centre is only one part. “What’s equally important is the trained and dedicated staff and continuous supply of materials, like emergency advance dressing kits, synthetic skin, biological dressings, etc.”
For a 20 bedded burn centre, a staff of 200 trained personals was required, including burn surgeons, intensivists, anaesthetists, ICU nurses, technicians, dressers and other paramedics.
He said that even though the facility has a separate budget, the treatment is too expensive; therefore, he has to seek the help of Baitul Mal and philanthropists.
He said that they are working on a program to formulate a ‘Pakistan Society of Burn Injury’ in which everyone would be permitted to become part of the society.
