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February 16, 2009	Monday	Safar 20, 1430

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KARACHI, Feb 15: While Maria may have survived the acid attack, she could not fight the germs that hounded her at the hospital and to which she eventually succumbed.

This was disclosed by Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed.

Shahnaz Bokhari, a regular visitor of hospitals around Islamabad/ Rawalpindi that provide service to burns victims, says these are in “a stinking, filthy and unsanitary state where decomposed or decaying bodies are lying defenceless”.

She affirms the possibility of catching an infection.

But she adds: “I’m amazed that a patient who is just 38 per cent burnt died, for I have – on record – women who have survived having been burnt more than 75 per cent. It proves that we are unable to make professional burns units!”

The Burns Centre at Karachi’s Civil Hospital is supposed to be a state-of-the-art facility.

According to Dabir-ur-Rehman, heading an NGO within the Civil Hospital, Maria died because her body was resistant to antibiotics.

“Maria’s immunity was greatly compromised because the barrier to contacting infection, which is the skin, was open,” said Dr Ehmer-Al-Ibran, assistant professor, directly in charge of Maria, who affirmed that she died due to her wounds getting infected.

“Her mortality rate, which is calculated by looking at a patient’s age, her/his burns percentage, plus the depth of burns, etc, was coming to 68 per cent, which was considerable.

“Ours is not a germ-proof environment and neither was she kept in isolation,” said Dr Ehmer.

Generally, said the doctor, infection can also creep through from within the ward, from other patients and even from the dressing room where patients’ dressings are changed.

“There were scores of visitors coming to Maria all the time. But this is not just with her. This happens with all patients. Visitors come from all over the place, carrying with them not just dirt but all sorts of germs.

They hug the patient and sit on his/her bed. If we restrain them, they quarrel with us. This happens all the time. With a person who has 40 per cent open skin, naturally, chances of her getting infected are much more.”—ZTE