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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Burns hospital still a dream in fireworks capital Sivakasi by V Mayilvaganan

Burns hospital still a dream in fireworks capital Sivakasi by V Mayilvaganan

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published Published on Oct 24, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 24, 2011

When the entire country celebrates Diwali this year with spectacular fireworks, there will be silence in the homes of dozens of families in Sivakasi, the national fireworks capital. These families have members who have either been killed or grievously injured due to blasts at the firecracker units. 

This year alone, 26 people working in the units have lost lives in blasts, while many more were injured. The latest and the fifth major blast was on October 3, when two persons working in a cracker unit were killed. Despite the alarming frequency of blasts at the 640-odd fire cracker manufacturing units that employ more than 50,000 people, Sivakasi lacks a specialty hospital to treat burn victims. 

The Sivakasi government hospital only has a rudimentary burns ward, so most victims are rushed to Madurai, about 70km away, often missing the important hour or two crucial to their lives. Virudhunagar district collector M Balaji had sent a Rs 4 crore proposal to the state government in July for a specialty unit to be set up in Sivakasi to treat burn victims, but it has not made much headway. 

"We have always been demanding immediate medical attention for the injured. In case of an accident, we are forced to take the victims to the government hospital or private hospitals in Madurai,'' said M Mahalakshmi, secretary, Sivakasi Cracker and Matchstick Units Workers' Association. 

The burns ward in the government hospital at Sivakasi has just six beds and a rudimentary air conditioner. 

Proposal seeks super speciality burns unit 

It is a far cry from the requirements of the work force in the firecracker industry. A hospital employee said that the facilities at the burns ward were on a par with other government hospitals. 

S Balasubramaniam, Virudhunagar district secretary of the Communist Party of India, said there were around 3,000 people who had survived burn injuries in and around Sivakasi, while the number of fatalities could run into a few hundred in the last decade. "It is strange that the government failed to take notice of the need for a state-of-the-art medical facility to treat burn victims," he said. 

Health experts, however, said that rather than the burn injuries itself, it is an air-borne infection that deals a fatal blow to victims. The existing burns ward leaves victims at risk of severe infections, besides lacking other facilities. 

The proposal sent by the district administration envisages a super specialty burns unit, the first of its kind in the country. "It would be a centre for excellence to treat burns. The 20-bed facility will have a saline bath ward, a cool dryer, an ointment spray unit, an artificial skin unit, an operation theatre, a post-operative care unit and a rehabilitation ward," said S Balasubramanian, deputy director (health), Virudhunagar. The state government has formed a committee to study the proposal.


The Times of India, 24 October, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Dark-Diwali-Burns-hospital-still-a-dream-in-fireworks-capital-Sivakasi/articleshow/10468103.cms


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