New Delhi: Sanjeevan Hospital launches burns and after burns care unit

Fact Sheet On Burns

• Every year a substantial proportion of deaths in India occur due to burn injuries.


• The age group of 21-30 years accounted for the maximum number of cases, followed by the age group 31-40 years and the 11-20 years. However, slowly the instances of burn among children are on the rise.


• “KITCHEN ACCIDENTS”- The majority of the Burn victims are women and of them, married outnumber the rest by a great margin and a huge chunk of these incidents get labeled as “Kitchen Accidents”.


• FEMALE DOMINANCE-Burns are the only unnatural cause of death in India in which females outnumber males by a large margin


• Kerosene/ kerosene stove is one of the leading causes of fire followed gas stove/ cylinder and anghiti/ chullha. All in all, the universal source of fire in the household for cooking purposes is responsible major instances of the victims catching fires. This is followed by fire due to electricity. bidis/ cigarettes (lit and forgotten) are also responsible for fire cases in the country.


• In urban cities, Electrical Burns are slowly on the rise, due to high voltage cables being laid down in residential areas and lack of guidelines for workers while working with these cables.


• Instances of Acid/ Chemical Burns are also prominent despite measures by the lawmakers to restrain such substances.


• Leading Cause of Mortality in Burn patients, is Infection leading to Septecemia. Many patients succumb to their injuries despite reaching the hospital and being given treatment. Other Causes of Mortality include Burn Shocks as well as Toxemia & shock.