DMCH Burn Unit

"A project to alleviate the suffering of burn victims."

A field report from Rishin, a SpaandanB representative:

Despite the incredibly horrible conditions I knew I was to face in the Burn Unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, I was not afraid. Nor was I hesitant. For I knew that, while many of these these patients may be in the most grotesque and painful conditions of any in the hospital, many of them were also the easiest to help. For a burn patient, the deciding factor between a small scar and a life of shame, pain and extremely unsightly features can often be something very small, such as the availability of bandages or oinments. Since my last visit to the unit two years ago, much had changed. more...

Project History

In 1999, the TV program ABC 20/20 featured a report on the acid burn victims of Bangladesh. Majority of them were women who were deliberately victimized by barbarous individuals. Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), being the central referral hospital, received those patients. But the Burn Unit of DMCH was not sufficiently equipped to handle the special needs of burn victims. There were only 8 beds for such patients in the whole country!

Moved by this, few kind-hearted individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area started this project with SpaandanB to help the distressed people. The main objective of this project is to:

• Provide financial support to cover the dressing, suture materials and medicinal charges for economically disadvantaged burn/acid victims.

Along with support to burn victims, SpaandanB also sponsored the first five Cleft-Lip Operation Camp run by DMCH Burn Unit in collaboration with DMCH Department of Anesthesiology.