450 suffer burn injuries on Diwali

NEW DELHI: More than 450 people were rushed to city hospitals with burn injuries on Diwali.
Safdarjung Hospital, which runs Asia's largest burns unit, got about 225 patients on Thursday. Another 80 were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. GTB Hospital in east Delhi said it got 165 patients, of which two are critical, and Lok Nayak hospital received 55 cases. Some patients were also taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in west Delhi and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital in central Delhi.
Special team of doctors and nursing staff worked all night to attend to the patients. "Most patients were brought between 10pm and 4am. In some cases, the cause of burn injuries was loose clothes," said Dr Rajpal, medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital. He said most children suffered injuries on their hands and face while burning crackers. "Two children and a woman are admitted due to extensive burns. Others were discharged after first aid," Dr Rajpal added.
Dr V K Tiwari, head of the burns and plastic surgery department at RML, said the number of burn injuries has gone up since last year. "We got 80 patients, of which three had extensive burns," Dr Tiwari said. No death has been reported, said Dr Rajeev B Ahuja, consultant and head of burns and plastic surgery unit at Lok Nayak Hospital. He has been appointed as the nodal officer in the government for burn management.
"In Greater Kailash part I, where I live, people were busting firecrackers till 3 am. We could not sleep all night and my mother who is critically ill had a tough time. There was no police action or even a warning to the violators," said Nikhil Kumar, an advertising professional.