Odisha Govt Approves Construction Of Burn Care Unit At MKCG Hospital In Berhampur

Berhampur: The Burn Care Unit in MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur in Odisha’s Ganjam district is likely to be operational within two years.

The Health Department of the state government has granted in principle approval for construction of the new building of the Burn Care Unit at the House Surgeon Hostel in the campus, said Prof Suchitra Das, Superintendent of the MKCG Hospital.

“We held discussion with senior officials of the Health department in detail to open a Burn Care Unit recently. We proposed that there must be 14 new posts for this unit including one associate professor of Surgery or Plastic Surgery, four assistant professors, four senior residents, four junior residents and four senior residents of the Department of Anaesthesia,” said Prof Das.

The demand for opening a Burn Care Unit in MKCG Hospital has been pending for the last two decades. At present, all burn cases are referred to either SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack or treatment centres in Andhra Pradesh. There have been many cases of severe burn patients breathing their last on the way to those places.

Most of the burn injury patients are now treated in the surgery ward of MKCG Hospital. At least 15 burn cases on an average are referred to the medical college and hospital every month, sources said. The rate of burn injuries is comparatively high during the summer, they added.

The electrocution of 10 passengers after a private bus came in contact with a live wire at Golanthara near Berhampur in February, 2020 was a challenge for the hospital to treat them without a burn care unit.

Rabindra Kumar Mishra, an activist, had also filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He had appealed to the NHRC to instruct the state government to set up a burn care unit in MKCG Hospital at the earliest.

Several local journalists had also staged a dharna in front of the hospital last year demanding a separate burn unit, a full-fledged trauma care unit and filling up of doctor posts.