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Two-year-old with third-degree burns discharged after 3 months
The toddler, Hooriyan Ansari, had been admitted with 60 percent flame burns on her face, neck, trunk and lower limbs. The incident occurred when the child accidentally rushed past a fire in a park near her Bhiwandi residence and sustained life-threatening injuries
Mumbai: A two-year-old girl from Bhiwandi who suffered severe burn injuries was discharged on July 11 from the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children at Parel after a courageous three-month battle. The toddler, Hooriyan Ansari, had been admitted with 60 percent flame burns on her face, neck, trunk and lower limbs. The incident occurred when the child accidentally rushed past a fire in a park near her Bhiwandi residence and sustained life-threatening injuries.
Dr Shankar Srinivasan, head of the department of plastic surgery and burns, said it was an uphill task for him and his team to save her life. “Upon initial assessment, the girl presented with third-degree burns affecting 60 percent of her body,” he said. “She was in a critical condition and faced an imminent risk of fatality. Compounding her situation, she also developed compartment syndrome (increased pressure in the tissues which stops blood flow) in both her upper and lower limbs, jeopardising their functionality.”
Recounting the case, Dr Srinivasan said the child was transferred from a Bhiwandi hospital to Wadia on April 4. “The same day, we took her up for surgery to relieve the compartment syndrome and prevent further damage,” he said. “Despite facing additional challenges such as multiple persistent infections due to extensive skin loss and the need for skin grafting, the child’s recovery has been rapid, instilling hope in the medical team. Recovery after 60 percent burns is difficult even for adults.”
Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO of Wadia Hospitals, said that throughout her stay at the hospital, the toddler received intensive care in the Intensive Pediatric Care Unit (IPCU), including intubation, ventilation and resuscitation to overcome the shock stage. “At the hospital, we have a dedicated tissue bank that played a key role in her recovery, as she required cadaver skin for skin grafting,” she said. “She will still require multiple episodes of split-thickness skin grafting in order to replace the burnt skin. The treatment is expected to continue for two more months, with an estimated cost of ₹3.5 lakh to 4 lakh if not more. The hospital has borne the complete financial burden of the treatment thus far.”
Mohd Nadeem Ansari, Hoorian’s father and a tailor by profession, said that the child was at her maternal grandmother’s house and had gone out to play when the incident happened. “We don’t know how her dress caught fire from a nearby burning pile of garbage,” he said. “It was a passerby who noticed her engulfed in flames and quickly poured water on her to extinguish the fire. We immediately rushed to a nearby clinic and later transferred her to Wadia Hospital after she experienced convulsions.”
Ansari said that it was difficult to witness his child’s trauma in the IPCU during the daily wound dressing. “She would plead with us to take her home,” he said. “We finally brought her home yesterday and she slept peacefully. She is slated to undergo two more skin grafts. We are grateful that the doctors managed to save our only daughter.”
Dr Sunil Keswani, medical director, National Burns Centre, praised the Wadia team of doctors. “It is difficult to salvage cases with above 25 to 30 percent burns,” he said. “The fact that the doctors managed to salvage 60 percent burns in a two-year-old child is praiseworthy, especially because the biggest challenge in such cases is controlling infections and not letting them progress to septicemia. In children, because of poor immunity, the system cannot fight back. The fact that the doctors pulled off this difficult case is commendable.”
