The incidents of sustaining burn injuries from handling hot liquids, including water, and bonfires across the country increased in winter, particularly during cold wave.

A total of 764 burn patients, including 365 children, were brought to the emergency department of the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the capital in November and December, 2023, while 1,070, including 461 children and 309 females, took admission to the hospital during the same months.

The data show that 1,166 patients had scalding wounds from spilling hot liquids, while 461 got injured from flames during the same period of November and December.

In June past year, 539 patients, including 262 scalded and 134 flame-burned ones, took treatment at the SHNIBPS emergency department.

When the winter comes, a significant number of people suffer burns from boiling water and other hot liquids and wood fires as they try to stay warm in cold weather, said SHNIBPS assistant director Hossain Imam.

He underscored the importance of raising awareness about safety measures, such as, carrying hot water in a bucket instead of in cooking pots, putting injured parts under normal temperature water if one gets burned, and not applying any kinds of balms or pastes to the burn wounds.

Applying balms or pastes to burn wounds may cause complications, said Hossain Imam.

Noting that electric burn injuries increased in recent years, he emphasised raising mass awareness about the safe use of electrical devices for heating water and other purposes.

Both the 500-bed SHNIBPS with 250 beds dedicated for burn patients and 300-bed Burn and Plastic Surgery unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 150 beds for burn patients are currently overwhelmed with patients, mostly children and women, while the incidents of burn injuries are on the increase in the cold weather, said physicians recently.

SHNIBPS resident surgeon Toriqul Islam said that the hospital’s emergency beds, wards, Intensive Care Units and High Dependency Care Units have been consistently occupied by patients since November and the number of patients, seeking medical attention has further increased in January.

‘In response to the surge, SHNIBPS and the burn unit at the DMCH are working collaboratively. Critical cases are being admitted to SHNIBPS, while patients with medium injuries are being referred to the nearby DMCH,’ he added.

The emergency department of the DMCH burn unit is also experiencing an influx of patients, with resident surgeon Maliha noting that many patients are even accommodated in corridors due to the lack of beds.

Parents and relatives of four-year-old Osman Ghani were wailing at the lounge of SHNIBPS as the boy died on January 21 after battling severe burn injuries for nearly 11 days.

Osman, younger of two brothers from Narinda in the old part of Dhaka, sustained severe burns after accidentally falling into a hot tea bucket prepared for his father’s tea stall.

A visit to the emergency unit of SHNIBPS on January 21 found that a majority of the admitted patients were children and women.

Nine-year-old Lamia from Patuakhali’s Bauphal upazila took admission to the hospital on January 13 with 33 per cent of her body sustaining burn injuries, while warming herself around a makeshift fire to ward off the cold.

Burn patients with bandages were seen staying in the DMCH corridors.

Having mentioned that around six lakh people sustain burn injuries every year in the country, SHNIBPS assistant director Hossain Imam said that the number of beds dedicated for burn patients in the country’s public health facilities is around 1,300 only.

These beds are available in 14 medical colleges around the country and two specialised institutions, both in the capital, one of which is the SHNIBPS and the other is the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation.

‘The burnt patients from across the country are frequently referred to Dhaka as the treatment facilities for burn patients in other medical colleges are extremely limited,’ he said, adding that to increase the scope of treatment for burn patients, the government has undertaken a project to establish 100-bed separate burn units in Rangpur, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barishal and Faridpur Medical Colleges.

The project will be expanded later to establish similar units in other public medical colleges, said the assistant professor.

In 2023, a total of 94,663 patients received treatment at the SHNIBPS. Of them, 782 patients died from burn injuries, according to the hospital’s data.