It was the evening of December 11, 2023. Seven-year-old Chatrish was playing on the roof of his house in the Kurund area of Bhopal when a high-tension wire passed through the same roof.
Chatrish’s mother Manisha Dangi was also drying clothes there. Suddenly there was a loud explosion when Manisha looked back she was shocked.
They screamed and quickly grabbed Chatrunsh and took him to the hospital with the help of a neighbor.
Chatrish’s father Gajendra Dangi says, ‘We shifted to this house a day ago. My child was playing with an iron rod on the roof. That rod hit a high-tension wire and a spark came out of it which burnt it
‘My wife and I had no words to say about it because it was very difficult for us to see our child in this condition,’ he says.
According to cosmetic and plastic surgeon Dr. Sunil Rathore Bansal, who treated the child, ‘When this child came to us, 60% of his body was burnt. Only the skin of the back and legs was intact. The child was on a ventilator for several days.’
Reluctance to donate skin
Dr. Sunil Rathore Bansal says, ‘We first grafted the child’s wound with his skin but the skin was insufficient. After that, we consulted the father and took the skin from one of his feet.’
‘We saved the skin of one of the baby’s hands for transplant. The baby is still being dressed and efforts are being made to keep the skin from sticking to the hands, but the baby will need surgery in the future.’
Dr. Sunil Rathore Bansal says, ‘Generally, it has been observed that when such unfortunate incidents happen to children, parents, especially fathers, are willing to donate their skin, but if it is an adult, people are reluctant to donate skin. are.’
“People who are burned because of an incident are already dealing with trauma and pain,” says domestic violence victim and burn survivor Sneha Javale.
‘In such cases it may be more painful to take skin from their own body. In such a situation, relatives and people should go ahead and donate skin.
Sneha further said that her body was 40% burnt and no one agreed to donate skin for her. He had skin grafted from his own body.
But if someone else had donated skin for Sneha, she could have been spared some of the pain and she could have recovered faster.
Dr. Sunil Keswani, a plastic and cosmetic surgeon at the National Burns Center, hails from Mumbai.
Explaining the importance of skin donation for the patient’s life, Dr. Sunil Keswani says that the skin is a major part of the body and protects a person from external infection, heat, cold, and secretion of body fluids and makes the skin work. The skin acts as a kind of shield.
Dr Keswani told the BBC that when a man or woman’s skin burns, they lose this protection.
‘Due to this, germs easily enter his body and he becomes prone to infections. Therefore, the skin should be donated so that the lives of the victims can be saved.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 million people suffer minor or severe burns every year in India, while in Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, and Pakistan, 17% of children with burns suffer temporary disability and 18% permanent disability.
In many countries, skin donations are taken from living people and dead bodies and stored in skin banks.