Petrol causing burns at home adding to household woes - Surgeon

The number of hospital admissions due to burn injuries caused by petrol has almost doubled, Colombo National Hospital’s Plastic Surgeon Dr. Gayan Ekanayake said.

He said that storing petrol at home could be the main reason for this.

“More people use the firewood hearth these days due to the shortage of LP Gas.The number of burn injuries has increased as more people use petrol to light the stove instead of kerosene. Also some people store petrol at home in an unsafe manner. Two deaths were reported recently as a lit candle was kept near the generator when adding petrol to the machine. Previously, the majority of burn injuries was due to kerosene, boiling water, or coal, but in the last week, the highest number of hospital admissions due to burn injuries was caused by petrol,” he said.

He thoroughly advised against storing petrol at home as it is highly inflammable. He added that the prevailing pharmaceutical drug shortage has affected the treatment for burn injuries at hospitals. “Instead of using modern techniques, we have to manage with the available resources when treating the patients,” he said.

 

by Daily News Sri Lanka

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