BENGALURU: Among the several fatal injuries that have been reported in Bengaluru lately, electric shocks and cylinder blast-related burn injuries are at a raise in the Mahabodhi Burns Centre in Victoria Hospital, doctors said.
While such cases were uncommon earlier, the recent incidents of a woman and her 9-month-old baby being electrocuted in Whitefield while casually walking on the footpath, and a 2-year-old from Kalaburagi succumbing to burn injuries after falling into a vessel full of sambar, highlighted the rise in such cases over the last 5-6 months.
Dr Ramesh T, Head of Department, Plastic Surgery and Burns, Victoria Hospital explained that in the past few months, the hospital has been seeing 4-5 electric shock cases every week. Similarly, cases of families being injured in gas cylinder blasts are also common.
Even the girl from Kalaburagi suffered 40 per cent burns and was brought to Victoria Hospital for further treatment, but succumbed to injuries just a few hours later, Dr Ramesh said.
While highlighting the cause for the rise in such cases in particular, he said electric shock cases are mostly seen among the labour class, especially construction workers, who tend to work without proper equipment or suffer accidental injuries. Often families staying in poor conditions or enclosed spaces end up getting affected, if there is a gas leak in the house. The entire family is seen suffering burns.
In a sigh of relief, Nagaraj BN, Nursing Officer (Skin), Victoria Hospital, said that with rising cases, more people are now inquiring about skin donation.
On average 40-50 inquiries are received every month asking about the process. Usually, families do not volunteer, assuming that the body will be disfigured. The skin is taken from the thigh and back of a person. It should be harvested within six hours of death of a person. It is a simple process, completed within 30 minutes.