Soon, dedicated burn unit at KGMU

LUCKNOW: After 15 years of its inception, the department of plastic surgery at the King George’s Medical University is coming up with a dedicated burn unit. It will be first such unit at any state run medical university in Uttar Pradesh.

Medical education minister, Ashutosh Tandon, has issued orders to start the unit within one month. The unit will have 25 beds for the patients including an 8-bed ICU.

There will be four different types of operating theatres (OTs) in the double-storey unit dedicated for various needs of patients. One OT will be for burn septicaemia, another for burn excision, one for burn trauma and one for minor operations.

“The operating theatres will be kept separate for different purposes to ensure there is least infection,” said HoD, plastic surgery, Prof AK Singh.

The beds in the unit will be kept at distance to cut down cross infection. The unit was planned way back in early 2000 but despite efforts, it could not take shape.

“With a dedicated centre coming up at the KGMU, the patients will certainly get better quality treatment and can also hope for speedy recovery,” said Dr Vijay Kumar, senior faculty in the department. He said that with dedicated doctors and team of paramedical staff treatment would be better focused.

At present, there is only one burn unit in government hospitals and that is at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee hospital.

There are burn units in private hospitals but as they charge a hefty amount, poor patients cannot afford the treatment.

Since burn treatment takes weeks or even months, the cost of treatment is also high.

The construction work of the burn unit at KGMU is nearing completion and now appointment of nurses and resident doctors is awaited.