Severity of the Problem
A burn is defined as an injury to the skin or other organic tissue primarily caused by heat or due to radiation, radioactivity, electricity, friction, or contact with chemicals. Burn injuries are perhaps the worst type of injures which require long healing times and expensive treatment
Burns are a serious public health problem. In India, about 7 to 8 lakh people are injured annually in various burn accidents. Of these, about 1.4 lakh die (a life is lost every four minutes). 2.4 lakh people suffer from temporary or permanent disabilities (WHO 2014).
Burns are the fifth most common cause of non-fatal childhood injuries and the 11th leading cause of death in children aged 1–9 years. Among all people globally, infants have the highest death rates from burns.
In India, illiteracy, poverty and lack of appropriate safety precautions are main reasons for high number of burn accidents. The situation becomes further grim due to the absence of organized burn care at primary and secondary health care level.
But the silver lining is that 90% of burn injuries are preventable.
"It is heartening to observe that there are a total 67 centers in the country providing burn care of which 30 are Government operated and 37 are in the private sector. A total of 1339 beds are available for burn patients in our country, but out of these there are only 297 ICU beds for burn care. Sadly there are only 8 Skin banks available in our country. There is an urgent need to bridge this wide gap between the number of patients sustaining burns every year (7 million) and requiring treatment (7 lacs) versus the number of beds available for treatment (1339 available versus 6000 necessary beds)." (http://www.thenabi.org/bcp.php)
Mission
Kumudini Trust aims at contributing to the redressal of this major public health problem in the following ways:
Burn accidents are preventable and are often the result of poor safety practices. In low income households, children and household members can be exposed to hazardous living conditions, which increase the risk of accidents. Similarly, the absence of basic firefighting equipment in residential locations can hinder fire management in the event of an accident. We pledge to educate the public regarding these matters – prevention is always better than cure!
Providing financial assistance to economically challenged victims. Specialized, dedicated, and extended care is necessary for the treatment of serious burn injuries. In economically backward families, this financial burden can result in hesitation and delays in obtaining critical and timely treatment, often leading to fatalities. We are dedicated to assisting patients in such a situation and ensuring timely and quality treatment. Our assistance extends to post-operative care and counseling services required for a complete recovery.
Increase awareness regarding skin donation and skin banks. Skin grafting is among the most efficient surgical treatments for serious burn injuries. However, the availability of donor skin and skin banks is extremely low in our country (only 8 currently present). Skin banks are as important as blood banks in the treatment of burn victims. We plan to organize lectures and social programs to increase awareness about this important subject.
Our long term goal is to initiate a public movement to provide state of the art burn care units in every city supported with skin banks. No life should be lost due to lack of proper medical assistance due to burn injuries.