Bengaluru hospitals have arranged round-the-clock emergency care for firecracker-related eye and burn injuries during Diwali, with Minto Eye Hospital reserving 25 beds and several private eye hospitals stocking medicines and treatment supplies.
Minto, Narayana Nethralaya, Nethradhama, Sankara Eye Hospital and Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital are among the facilities that have prepared to treat patients throughout the festival. Minto Eye Hospital has set aside 25 beds specifically for firecracker injury cases, including 10 beds each for male and female patients and five beds for children.
Minto Eye Hospital director Dr Suresh Babu said doctors and staff would be available 24 hours a day during the festival, and that the hospital had stocked the equipment and medicines required for treatment. He also warned that failing to take precautions while handling firecrackers could turn a festival associated with light into a source of serious injury.
The hospital recorded 247 firecracker injury cases over the past five years. Of these, 187 patients were treated as outpatients and 60 were admitted. Most of the injured patients had been using bijli firecrackers, according to the hospital’s account. Between 50 and 60 people receive treatment for firecracker injuries at the hospital each year, and around 40% of those patients are below 14 years of age. Last year, 56 patients were treated for such injuries.
Doctors have advised people not to rub or wash an injured eye after a firecracker accident. Instead, the eye should be covered with a clean handkerchief and the patient should be taken immediately to the nearest eye hospital for emergency treatment. Injuries that appear minor externally can damage delicate internal parts of the eye and require examination by an ophthalmologist.
Dr Suresh Babu also advised residents to pour water over a firecracker after it has been used. This can reduce pollution and help prevent people from accidentally stepping on hot fragments of partially burnt firecrackers. Children below five years of age should not be allowed to handle firecrackers, he said, adding that firecrackers should be used only in open areas and with appropriate safety measures.
The hospital has also cautioned residents against assuming that so-called green firecrackers are completely harmless. The advice is that all firecrackers should be handled with precautions, regardless of their classification.
For burn injuries, the Mahabodhi Burns Centre on the Victoria Hospital campus has arranged 24-hour emergency services. Doctors, nurses and support staff have been assigned to the facility for the festival period.
Residents can contact Minto Eye Hospital at 9481740137. Narayana Nethralaya’s Rajajinagar branch can be reached on 080 66121641, 080 66121643 or 9902546046; its NH Health City, Bommasandra branch on 080 66660658 or 9902821128; its Indiranagar branch on 080 66974000 or 9916024455; its Bannerghatta Road branch on 080 66121618 or 9035154170; and its Whitefield branch on 080 66121658 or 9535258004. Sankara Eye Hospital in Marathahalli is available on 080 69038900 or 9739270477, Nethradhama in Jayanagar on 080 26088000 or 9448071816, and Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital on 9594904060.
