Guwahati: Burn cases have increased by 13 per cent across the state, said a data revealed by Burn Care Foundation, a Guwahati-based institution and one of the major burn care centres of the state.

"In 2016, we have treated 129 burn cases and in 2017, it went up to 169. Moreover, in the OPD, during 2016 we had treated 304 people and in 2017, we treated 340 cases," convener of Burn Care Foundation, Bhupendra Prasad Sarma, said on the occasion of Burn Care Day, which was observed here on Sunday.

The foundation, which was established in 2010, has treated 2,679 burn cases till now. Among them, 428 were major burn cases and 262 were minor ones. In this tenure, the mortality rate of major burn cases is 43.9 per cent and 34.8 per cent of the cases recovered fully. Altogether six cases were homicidal, 111 were suicidal and 573 were accidental.

Reacting to the present scenario of burn care in the state, secretary of the foundation, Hitesh Baruah, said, "Though we do not have the exact data from Assam, extrapolating from the national data, it can be inferred that Assam, with a population of 3.3 crore, has about 75,000 burn cases of different severity every year. Of them, about 25,000 requires hospitalisation. In Assam, we have six burn units with 50 beds each, which can treat about 1,000 patients every year. The rest 24,000 patients do not really get any effective treatment."

Sarma said, "There are many misconceptions amongst the people on the first aid and treatment of burns. These add to the misery of the victims. But, it is a fact that with modern treatment available now, even the seriously injured burn patients can be revived and made to live a normal life."