Bangladesh is facing a growing health-care challenge as a rise in fire incidents continues to expose serious gaps in the country’s capacity to treat severe burn injuries.
Every year, thousands of burn victims are forced into a race against time, with many failing to receive critical care within the so-called “golden hour”, often with fatal consequences.
Doctors say the problem is compounded by a shortage of specialised facilities, trained personnel and essential equipment.
The scale of the crisis was underscored on Friday morning when a fire at a residential building in Uttara killed six people, including children, highlighting the risks posed by inadequate emergency burn-care services.
Data from the Fire Service and Civil Defence show that Bangladesh recorded 23,432 fire incidents in 2025, an average of 64 fires a day, despite a slight year-on-year decline.
Health experts say many deaths occur because victims are unable to access specialised treatment during the “golden hour” – the first 24 hours after sustaining burns, a critical window for survival.
The National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, the country’s main referral centre for burn victims, has around 500 beds, including 22 intensive care unit beds and 22 high-dependency unit beds. Although the institute is often described as one of the world’s largest dedicated burn and plastic surgery facilities, it frequently operates at full capacity.
As a result, patients with severe burns are often referred to other hospitals in the capital, many of which lack the specialised infrastructure needed to manage complex burn injuries, doctors say.
“The first 24 hours are crucial, yet many patients fail to receive timely care because of the acute shortage of burn units and the absence of proper burn-care facilities at primary and secondary levels,” said Dr Mohammad Mushtuq Husain, an adviser at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
The government has approved a project to decentralise burn care by establishing 100-bed burn units at five medical college hospitals in Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Faridpur. The project was initially scheduled to be completed by June 2025 at a cost of Tk456.08 crore. However, it has since faced delays, design changes and cost overruns. The revised budget now stands at Tk816.19 crore, with completion pushed back to June 2028.
“Every day we receive critically injured burn patients from across the country, and unfortunately many accidents that are survivable turn fatal because patients do not get timely treatment closer to home,” said a senior doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Dr Husain described the concentration of burn-care services in Dhaka as a “systemic failure” in a country frequently affected by fire-related disasters. He said regional burn units, integrated with emergency transport systems, are essential to prevent patients from losing the “golden hour”.
He also called for a pyramidal burn-care system, where primary centres provide immediate first aid, secondary hospitals manage non-critical cases, and tertiary facilities offer specialised care and clinical guidance.
“Limited regional capacity means large-scale incidents can quickly overwhelm existing facilities,” he said. “A functional system would save lives before patients are forced to travel long distances, reduce pressure on major hospitals, and significantly improve survival rates.”
Attempts to contact Health and Family Welfare Adviser Nurjahan Begum for comment were unsuccessful.
