Burn Unit

Another volunteer and I struck up a conversation with the nurse who was helping in the burn case (which I talked about in the previous post.) She told us about the Burn Unit at Bir Hospital, a much bigger hospital close by. She told us that about 70% of the patients were burn victims! This was surprising to me. Apparently alot of these burn victims were attempted suicides. There are alot of problems with social structure in Nepal, especially regarding women. Arranged marriage is the norm here so I think there is alot of depression and mental illness associated with this. Also I think spousal abuse is prevalent here. So alot of these burn victims are women who have poured kerosene on themselves and then lit themselves on fire in an attempt to escape their lives. I was shocked to hear this and saddened as well. I can't imagine what it would be like to have an arranged marriage and be expected from an incredibly early age to bear children and be a housewife. Also divorce is not very accepted here so it's difficult to get out of an unhappy marriage. Anyway, this nurse offered to take us to the Bir Hospital Burn Unit to tour it next week. This should be an interesting field trip which I will report about next week.