Rohit Shishodia
A dedicated burns and plastic surgery block at Delhi-AIIMS will be operational by end of 2019. This facility at the country’s premier institute is expected to provide major relief to patients who often can’t get treatment for burn injuries leading to disability and even death.

Speaking to the media on he occasion of National Plastic Surgery Day in AIIMS, Prof Randeep Guleria, Director, Delhi-AIIMS, informed that AIIMS is ready to provide facilities of burn and plastic surgery in the separate block by the end of 2019. The centre will be a state of the art facility with ICU and operation theater. It will be entirely focused on patients suffering from burns and those who need plastic surgery.

“The centre will be useful for academic activities and research on burn injuries and plastic surgery. The centre will have a skin bank. I hope in the next few years the centre becomes an epicenter for burns and plastic surgery in the country,” added Prof Guleria.

Dr Maneesh Singhal, HOD, Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Burns surgery, said that after Safdarjung hospital, AIIMS will be the first centre to have a skin bank in the entire north India. A person affected with 40% burn injury needs skin implantation.

Dr Singhal added that the centre will have 102 beds, 6 operation theaters, 30 ICU beds and a separate burn emergency. Incidents of burn injuries have come down due to awareness, he informed. They are not increasing as they used to earlier. The cases of burns are stable now. If such a situation continues and other centers function well, AIIMS burn center will handle burn injuries' load of Delhi-NCR, said Dr Singhal.  

Dr Singhal informed that AIIMS is collaborating with Delhi-IIT on artificial skin. This project will take up to one and half year to complete. A human trial of artificial skin will take place next year. Presently, trial of artificial skin is being done on pigs.

AIIMS had received Rs three crore grant from the government for the artificial skin project. An artificial skin was developed in a lab with an experiment in association with experts of Delhi-IIT. This artificial skin has been trialed in rats.

Dr Rajeev Ahuja, Immediate Past President, International Society for Burn Injuries, pointed out that burn care needs more attention. Around 75% burn injuries in the world happen in India. “

“We are the capital of burn injury incidents. Burn care in India is still lacking because burn injury is a problem of poverty and rich people don’t get burn injuries so often. We have been lobbying with the government on this issue. But if you take this message to policy makers, it will help to highlight the problem,” said Dr Ahuja.

On the occasion, AIIMS doctors released the latest issue of Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery.