PESHAWAR: The Burns and Plastic Surgery Centre has launched a campaign to scale up public awareness regarding preventive measures to avoid burns injuries and safeguard people from host of health complications including deaths and disabilities.

“The first-ever Burns and Plastic Surgery Centre of the province, which started operations in November last year, has admitted 6,215 patients including 60 per cent male and 40 female of whom 2,500 have been operated upon in eight operation theatres with the help of 17 plastic surgeons,” Prof Mohammad Tahir, the director of the centre, told Dawn.

He said that following the history of patients, it was found that 50 per cent of cases were preventable provided the people adopted measures to avoid fire. “To ensure prevention, we have launched a campaign three months ago to scale up public awareness on how to stop eruption of fire and take measures to lessen casualties,” he added.

Prof Tahir said that the drive was meant to inform people about causes of burns because most of the cases occurred due to domestic work and carelessness.

Burns and Plastic Surgery Centre Peshawar has admitted 6,215 patients so far

“We have started first-aid lectures at schools, press clubs and industrial zones alongside social media, asking people to call fire brigade and Rescue1122 in case of fire,” he said.

He said that insiders should stay out once they got out of fire place. They should not wait to collect belongings and waste time, he added.

“People should crawl to safe areas, keep the injured ones warm after washing their amputated parts with clean cloth and compressing them to stop bleeding,” said Prof Tahir. He stressed the need for installation of fire alarm and safe electricity system besides ensuring use of non-slippery flooring, avoiding overcrowding at workplace and using proper uniform where required.

“People should put water on fire, open the doors and windows, close the cylinder valves and burner knobs, stop where you are in event of fire and don’t try to run, always use stairs instead of elevators, fire exit, turn off switches and put sand on fire and don’t put water on electric fire, don’t touch electrical switches if gas smell persists and inform relevant department,” he said.

Prof Tahir said that about 50 per cent burn injuries were manageable. He added that people should put cold water on him immediately after someone catches fire to reduce the harmful effects.

“Soon, our teams will be visiting Hattar and other industrial zones in collaboration with Workers Welfare Board to spread awareness among the workers about the prevention of fire incidents and subsequent measures to lessen harms,” he said.

Prof Tahir said that the 120-bed centre in Hayatabad had been actively imparting training to doctors, nurses and paramedics on management of burn injuries not only in the province but also in Afghanistan.

“Twenty per cent are Afghans but we treat them free of cost. We have also established two burn units, 20-bed each, in Afghanistan with the help of Germany-assisted Pakistan Afghanistan Tajikistan Regional Integration Programme,” he said.

Prof Tahir said that the centre remained in touch with all the divisional hospitals and Afghanistan via internet where they discussed matters relating to patients’ care. More than 150 Afghan doctors and paramedics were trained so far in management of burns, he said.

The centre was sanctioned in 2010 but the federal government didn’t release the pledged funds after which the provincial government approached USAID, which agreed to give Rs1.60 billion to it.

Prof Tahir said that former chief secretary Mohammad Azam Khan played key role in helping the centre to complete and start operations.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2019