Burn patients woo in govt hospital

Burn patients in southern Odisha are facing problems for treatment at MKCG Medical College and Hospital, the only government referral hospital of the region, as it lacks a burn unit.
Most of the patients with burn injuries are referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack, or Visakhapatnam hospitals in Andhra Pradesh or treated at the MKCG plastic surgery unit, doctors said.
Several patients die on their way to different hospitals, said an MKCG hosptial official adding two women succumbed to their burn injures at MKCG medical on Sunday.
On an average, 15 burn patients are admitted to MKCG hospital every month. "There is a need to set up a burn unit with proper facilities in the medical college," said MLA (Berhampur) R C Chyaupatnaik.

MKCG medical college hospital Superintendent A K Behera said they have submitted several proposals to the government for setting up a burn unit. A 20-bed unit with an ICU is needed, he said.
The chances of survival of patients with 80 to 90 per cent burns are very less even if they are treated in burn units," said a plastic surgeon.