Time
for the society to introspect why girls who, being trained by their mothers,
cooked well at natal homes but encounter accidental burns in the kitchens of
marital homes.
The other day I happened to read a publication,
“Gendered Pattern of Burn Injuries in
India: A Neglected Health Issue”, Published in Reproductive Health
Matters 2016, 24: 96-103 by Padma Bhate-Deosthali and Lakshmi Lingam. Reviewing
“the existing literature on burn injuries in India” and tracing the “gaps in
recognizing the gendered factors leading to a high number of women dying due to
burns”, the authors stressed the “need to investigate the abnormally high number
of accidental burns amongst young women aged 18-35.” As I finished its reading,
ha! I was overawed by silence and glum. But first the facts: that annually—
- an estimated 7 million burn injuries are reported in India
- of which 700,000 cases require hospital admission,
- of which 140,000 are reported fatal;
- that 91,000 of these deaths are of women;
- that this death figure is higher than that for maternal mortality, and
- that “deaths due to burns are four times higher among women aged 18-35 years.
Reviewing
the community studies from India, the authors opined that dowry-related
violence is an important cause of bride burning or dowry deaths of women and
such incidents are reported more from the low socioeconomic strata of the
society. A study carried out by Vimochana about unnatural deaths in
marriages reported from Bengaluru during 1997-99 revealed that 70% of these
reported deaths of young brides were closed in police records as accidental
deaths.
A
similar analysis carried out by the Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) in 2014 in a large tertiary hospital in
Mumbai revealed that in 62% of 133 cases there is a difference about the cause
of burns between the information posted in the medical records—‘accidental’,
‘no information’—and the records of counsellors that mentioned the cause as
“suicidal, homicidal, and domestic violence”. According to the authors, the
existing laws make investigation of such unnatural deaths of married women
within seven years of marriage mandatory. Here, doctors play an important role
in recording dying declarations. Their opinion about the cause of death also plays an important role. Yet, the medical profession, as the authors opined, treating the violence as private behaviour, unfortunately
often found to limit themselves to treat the injuries leaving causes for burns
unexamined except to observe once in a while: “it is unlikely for a person to
suffer 60-80% burns if it is accidental”.
There
is another side to this story of kitchen deaths: Indian mothers invariably
train their daughters well in cooking, particularly those from the low socioeconomic
strata from which the burn cases are reported high, hence it remains an enigma
as to why girls who cooked safely in natal homes, face burn-related injuries
and death at marital homes? This is a serious question and needs an honest
introspection of all those engaged in the welfare of women, particularly, Women
Welfare Departments of State and Central governments.
An
honest enquiry of this question more likely to end up in desperation—there is
something fishy behind these burn-deaths of 91,000 women per year. And yet much
is still desired in our approach to this social malady and even towards
management of burn injuries of these victims. Treatment of survivors of burn
injures is a long and arduous process. They may even require reconstructive
surgery, occupational therapy and rehabilitation plans. And the victims being
female and mostly hailing from poorer sections, the economic consequences of
such burns and their treatment are very high. This is a serious gap that is
essentially to be filled by external assistance. This becomes all the more
obvious in cases where the women were disowned by the in-laws and parents are
not in a position to afford the expensive treatment.
All this cumulatively calls for social action. It is here
that corporates can play a vital role: as a part of their CSR programs, they
can launch such ‘awareness campaigns’ on the lines of the current
‘road-safety-campaign’ which make kitchens and cooking safe for every woman.
The campaign shall also educate health workers about domestic violence and
train them to identify signs and symptoms of likely violence in families so
that they can facilitate early identification of abuse by the victims and
importantly, encourage them to seek timely external help. These campaigns must
also educate the family members about their role when such fire accidents occur:
extinguishing the fire, pouring water over the victim, providing first aid,
arranging for immediate medical care, etc.
Such social campaigning also ensures that the burn-accidents
are rightly reported and justice is afforded to the victim so as to deter their
free recurrences. Corporates may also help in establishing and maintaining skin
banks at major hospitals for using in grafts for treating wounds. They could
also encourage health workers to use banana leaves as an immediate dressing
material against burns for it is reported that banana leaf dressing being non-adherent,
protects wounds from trauma, and prevents them from becoming too dry.
Corporates may also aid burn-victims with timely medical help, besides offering
counselling to the survivors of burn-injuries to overcome psychological trauma
and get rehabilitated.
It is only through such external interventions that the
society can be sensitized about these unfortunates death of young women and
also make the family and community accountable for safety in kitchens. Cumulatively,
such awareness and social-consciousness alone shall pave the way for arresting
this social malady effectively.
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