Observing that burn injuries are not merely a clinical trauma but a significant public health crisis in India, the Jharkhand High Court recently issued a series of time-bound directions to the state to ensure the availability of specialised burn care facilities.

The bench of Chief Justice M S Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar passed the directions on a public interest litigation arising out of a 2021 kerosene fire tragedy in Hazaribagh that claimed four lives, including a two-year-old child, and left several others with severe burn injuries and permanent disfigurement.

“Burn injury is not merely a clinical trauma; rather, it is a significant public health crisis in India, which carries the highest mortality and disability burden in the world,” the bench observed.

The petition was instituted in the backdrop of an incident allegedly caused due to the use of highly inflammable kerosene supplied through the public distribution system in Hazaribagh. The petitioner had pointed out to the court that certain injured persons were admitted in general wards and required urgent transfer to dedicated burn units or to higher medical centres such as Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi.

The petitioner also alleged that essential medicines were not readily available at the Sadar Hospital, Hazaribagh, and had to be procured from outside sources.

It was contended by the petitioner that despite approaching the concerned authorities, including the hospital administration and district officials, no effective or timely action was taken to ensure proper treatment for the victims or to address their grievances.

The court said that legal heirs of the victim can approach the jurisdictional court for grant of compensation and if they are unable to make such application then the secretary, district legal services authority, Hazaribagh, has been directed to take appropriate steps to identify such victims and facilitate the filing of applications.

While the petitioner’s initial grievances were rooted in the specific tragedy at Hazaribagh, the court observed that the proceedings in the matter brought to light a much larger, systemic deficiency.

The court noted that the right to health under Article 21 is a positive mandate that requires the state to provide specialised, time-sensitive medical infrastructure, particularly for burn trauma.

Apart from the directions given above, the court directed that the state implementation committee or state monitoring committee shall be made operational and functional forthwith. It further added that if such a committee has not yet been constituted, the state government shall ensure its constitution within four weeks.

The court ordered that the said committee, headed by the principal secretary (health), shall function as the State-level supervisory body to oversee the implementation of the directions, including review of infrastructure, manpower and the operational status of burn units across the state.

It added that the committee will meet at least once every three months to ensure that deficiencies, if any, are identified and addressed within the stipulated time frame.