Bengaluru: Number of women burns victims at Victoria Hospital dips in two years

BENGALURU: The number of women patients at the burns ward of Victoria Hospital has not only declined but has also been lower than that of male patients for two years. Doctors see this as a sign of the reduction in women using inflammable substances like kerosene to commit suicide.

The burns ward in the government-run hospital is the only specialty centre in the city that sees cases of over 30-40% burns, apart from St John’s Hospital.

While 612 women were admitted to the ward in 2016, the number fell to 377 and 347 during 2017 and 2018 respectively. The number of women admitted in the first four months of 2019 is 124, far less than the 136 the ward saw during the corresponding period last year. While 540 men were admitted in 2016, the figures stood at 372 in 2017, 477 in 2018 and 157 this year.

“Three years ago, the number of women coming to the burns ward was higher. For every case of a woman patient involving kerosene use, her in-laws, parents and husband would repeatedly meet us with their own versions of the incident. While the in-laws would plead innocence, the woman’s parents would narrate another story. Such cases are hardly seen nowadays. Also, the number of women victims in the burns ward is less compared to men,” said Dr KT Ramesha, head of the burns ward.

Asked if there was a decline in cases of women attempting suicide using kerosene, Dr Vijay Joseph, HoD, plastic reconstructive surgery and burns at St John’s Hospital, seconded Dr Ramesha. “Though cases of women brought to our ward with kerosene-related immolation has come down, the number of male and female burns patients is nearly the same. One probable reason for this is that our hospital gets more industry-related burns cases,” he said. Hospital authorities however refused to divulge the statistics of cases reported at their burns ward.

According to Sathya K, coordinator and counsellor of NGO Vimochana, who works at the burns ward of Victoria Hospital, the decline in the number of female patients doesn’t imply a decrease in the number of women attempting suicide using inflammable substances or a decline in domestic violence. “Even other hospitals would be getting such cases. There’s no centralised data on women burns victims to arrive at any conclusion,” she added.

Satya recalled a case of a West Bengal woman in her mid-20s brought to the burns ward in February 2019. Her husband had allegedly thrown acid on her face. “Domestic violence cases have not dipped,” said Sathya, who routinely counsels women patients at the ward.

LOW-QUALITY GAS TUBES POSE DANGER

According to doctors at the Victoria burns ward, most cases involve migrant men from North India, who work on Bengaluru’s outskirts as labourers and live in small crowded tenements. “LPG cylinders used by these labourers are connected to stoves with poor-quality gas tubes which leads to gas leakage, eventually causing blasts. In such cases, all those living in the tenements, mostly men, usually end up suffering burns,” said Dr Ramesha.

Doctors also observed that transfer of cheaply available cooking gas from LPG cylinders to autorickshaw cylinders is also leading to fire accidents. “Unsafe practices are followed while transferring gas from one cylinder to another to save a couple of hundred rupees,” they added.