ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday ordered the creation of a fund for the treatment of burn victims, most of whom die either because of lack of treatment facilities or inability to afford the cost.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Burn Intensive Care Unit at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), President Musharraf called for reaching out to the poorest of the poor.

The endowment fund would be created by the health ministry after working out its modalities and other finer details.

The daily cost of treatment of burn victims ranges from Rs4,000 to Rs12,000 depending on the intensity of the burn. Majority of the burn victims are poor women who can hardly bear the cost of the expensive treatment.

The Rs398 million state-of-the-art, 20-bed facility is the first of its kind in public and private sector in the country.

The facility has eight separate patient rooms and two four- bed wards, one each for male and female patients. It has been equipped with all ancillary facilities. There are three other burn centres in the region including one in Islamabad. All these centres are being managed by the ministry of defence. “The centre at Pims is the most modern in the country and of international standard,” said Dr Tariq Iqbal, head of the newly commissioned unit, while comparing it with the facilities in the defence sector.

The burn centre, estimated to have an annual recurring expenditure of Rs126 million, has been promised special allocation by the president.

The president vouched for the quality of facilities made available at the centre, saying it was an excellent facility to help alleviate the sufferings of patients with burn injuries under the supervision of competent doctors, which was earlier not possible due to unavailability of such a unit.

He hoped that the setting up of the centre would help patients in getting timely medical treatment besides reducing the mortality rate.

In Pakistan, the mortality rate of burn victims is 46 per cent compared to 20 per cent in the developed countries.

A study about the profile of burn victims admitted to Pims during the past few years shows that the average age of the victims was 32.2 years for male and 24.4 years for females. The male/female ratio of the victims was 1/1.18.

Burn incidents were commonest during the winter season - 42.2 per cent. They were accidental in 79 per cent of the cases.

In six per cent of the patients, burns were due to suicide attempts and in 15 per cent due to homicidal intent. The major cause in female victims was stove burst (22 per cent) and in males direct flame (18 per cent). The kitchen was the commonest site of the accident in females (27 per cent). Housewives were the most frequently affected (35 per cent). Inhalational injury was present in 23 per cent of the patients.

Males had an average total body surface area burned of 27.4 per cent compared with 39.5 per cent in females. Eighteen per cent of the deaths occurred among males and 16 per cent among females.