At Pims hospital, no Eid for burn victims

ISLAMABAD: Eid is an occasion personified by families enjoying festivities together with shared meals and excursions. Yet, severe burn victims at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) not only have to go through intense medical procedures to protect their health, but are also deprived of an opportunity to spend Eid with their families.

According to the centre’s staff, about 30 people were brought in with accidental burns, mostly women and children.

Uzma, a newlywed, sustained 25 per cent burns when a gas cylinder burst while she was preparing sehri at her mother’s house. She said that “Eid is nothing without health and family.”

The atmosphere at the centre is depressing and it is not possible to enjoy the occasion in this setting, she further added.

Muhammad Zaman owns a gas cylinder shop and was burned after a leaking cylinder caught fire.

His brother said, “He has been crying, talking about the whole family and his plans for Eid.”

Muhammad Mudassar, a Sialkot native, was trying to turn on a generator which caught fire and left him with severe injuries.

Mudassar said that on such occasions, you miss your loved ones even more when you plan all the lunches and dinners.

Most of them share analogous stories and sentiments, in which they wish that they could spend Eid with their loved ones and not in hospital beds.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2016.