Mumbai witnesses highest Diwali burns in 5 years; 25 cases in 3 days

NAVI MUMBAI: The National Burns Centre, Airoli, received at least 25 cases of burning within three days of Diwali, the highest in five years. The extent of injuries is between 10% to 40% burns. In the previous five years, the centre received 25 cases in a month during Diwali.

Around 12 cases among the 25 were of children and the maximum cases were of cracker bursts.

“Diya burns are dangerous too,” said Dr Sunil Keswani, Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeon, from National Burns Centre.

“Usually, in a span of 21 days, around 25 cases come in. This year, within three days, 25 cases have already come in and it is expected to touch 50 in the next 10 to 15 days,” the doctor added.

The cracker burst victims are mostly children and men. “The crackers from the old stock tend to burst on alighting it which causes burn injuries on face and hands. The burn injuries caused by firecrackers bursting cause about 10% burns. But for Diya burns, it goes up to even 40%,” Dr Keswani added.

An eight-year-old girl from Mumbai suffered around 40% burns after her dress caught fire while she was playing near a Diya lamp. “Diyas should never be kept on the floor. At times, oil from Diya spills and catches fire and hence they should be replaced with the candle Diyas.”

While cracker burns can be given first aid at home and then taken to hospital, for Diya burns, immediate hospitalisation is required. “Diya burns which can also cause injuries up to 70% need to be attended immediately because the patient tends to go into shock slowly which becomes lifethreatening,” Dr Keswani said.

Though no grafting was required to be done for any case at the Airoli centre, the hospital had sent a total of 7500 square centimetres of skin to two hospitals in the country, one at Delhi and another at Bangalore.

“The patients who could not be transferred approached us with the case details and photographs,” Dr Keshwani said. “Accordingly we chose the closest matching skin for them from our skin bank and sent it to them.”

He added that skin donation is a very important thing but not many are aware, as they get 20 in a month, while the requirement for Maharashtra is around 150.

For the last two years, due to the pandemic, the hospital did not have burn cases during Diwali.

HT PHOTO The extent of injuries is between 10% to 40%.