Our projects
“National Program for Prevention and Treatment of Burn Injuries” (NPPTBI)
The estimated annual burn incidence in Nepal is approximately One Hundred Thousand per year. The high incidence is attributed to illiteracy, poverty and low-level safety consciousness in the population. The situation become 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. An initiative at national level is need of the hour to reduce incidence so as to galvanize the available resources for more effective and standardized treatment delivery. NPPTBI would be to ensure prevention and treatment by awareness in order to reduce incidence, provide timely and adequate treatment to burn patients to reduce mortality, complications and provide effective rehabilitation to the survivors. Another objective of the program will be to establish a central burn registry. The program would essentially have three components i.e., Preventive program, Burn Injury management and Treatment program and Burn Injury Rehabilitation Program.
Over the years no government realized the gravity of the situation so not even a single burn center was started from the government side. However; like-minded burn care professionals have come forth and started a couple of burn care centers which are concentrated in the capital city. Experts estimate deaths from burns to range between 3500 to 5000; actual case numbers are much higher. Burns survivors recount excruciating pain that can last for years and life-long injuries and disabilities, alongside the scarring and deformity. Severe burns require immediate and extensive treatment, which most Nepalese cannot afford.
There is little to No assistance available from the government. Existing Nepali law provides no compensation to victims of burn violence or burn accidents, and repatriations are nominal. Most burn violence cases occur in low-income families over issues like dowry, infidelity, insecurity and inter-caste marriage. The survivors of burns violence are overwhelmingly female while males suffer mostly from accidental burns. According to WHO, burns account for 5 percent of disability in the Nation, the second most common injury in rural Nepal. But data on the actual number of cases is scarce. There is no mechanism in place to keep track.
In all of Nepal, there are only a handful of hospitals that can treat serious burn injuries, and most of them are situated in Kathmandu. If 10% of a human body suffers burn injuries, they require serious medical attention. But there is hardly a dozen burn specialist doctors in Nepal and nearly all of them are in Kathmandu. If a person needs critical care, they have to come to Kathmandu. A majority of patients comes from rural areas and many times, it is too late. Nepal’s public healthcare system is so inadequate that if a person with burn injuries to 30 percent of their bodies comes in, doctors have a tough time providing treatment. We do not have the adequate facilities and enough trained specialists even to treat 50 people who gets injured if a massive fire breaks out somewhere in Kathmandu itself; treatment would be next to impossible. But a majority of burn injuries can be prevented. Developing proper information and awareness channels and building the capacity and human resource of hospitals to provide timely treatment can go a long way towards reducing injuries and mortalities.
