Tarubala Mukherjee is still struggling. With her right arm and a leg badly burnt after a stray firework hit her sari, the excruciating pain has left her dazed. The bhai phonta celebrations have been done away with, and the Mukherjees of CIT Road are still on tenterhooks.

Turned away by at least three hospitals and a few nursing homes, which refused to admit a burns patient on Diwali night, it?s been an uphill task to provide the 48-year-old a near-germ-free environment at home. The celebration of lights turned into a grim battle for the entire family and many others across the city, with similar experiences on a night that was all lit up.

There are no official records of the number of burn injuries sustained on the festival night. Going by figures furnished by nursing homes to local police stations, the number was distressfully high in a city that lacks burns units in all its state-run hospitals, except one, and doesn?t have too many doctors in private nursing homes to attend to burn cases on a festival night.

On Diwali alone, at least six cases were turned away from the emergency department of Calcutta National Medical College ? the Mukherjees among them ? while at the NRS and RG Kar Medical College, the number of patients refused was even more.

In all these cases, the doctors on duty managed to convince the patients? families that since a burns unit was not in place, it wouldn?t be wise to admit the patients.

?Yes, none of the state-run hospitals ? save the SSKM ? has a burns unit in place,? admits Mrityunjay Mukherjee, superintendent, Calcutta National Medical College. ?It?s not about one or two rooms being converted to accommodate such patients. We are talking of a full-fledged unit, which is a costly proposition.?

The sense of helplessness echoes across other hospitals as well. Most admit that patients had to be turned away for the sake of their own safety since the first 48 hours in case of a burn injury is most critical. Patients need immediate fluid replacement, failing which, the wounds could prove fatal.

?We had made arrangements for initial support, but in case of severe burns, we decided to refer the patients elsewhere. A patient with above 30 per cent burns needs intensive care,? observes Sudipto Mitra, medical superintendent, Peerless Hospital.