The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Help sought for acid attack victims

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 27, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Help sought for acid attack victims

Staff Reporter

`Government hospitals should be equipped to treat them'

Bangalore: The "Campaign and Struggle against Acid Attacks on Women" has appealed to the Government to take immediate steps to ensure that hospitals run by it at the district level are equipped to provide treatment to acid attack victims free of charge.

The organisation has alleged that Hemavathi, an acid attack victim who died on May 18, did not get adequate treatment at the burns ward of Victoria Hospital. It has said it will hold a demonstration in front of the Chief Minister's official residence, "Krishna", on Sunday at 11 a.m. in protest against what it called the Government's lack of response to the plight of acid attack victims.

Representatives of the organisation said a 14-year-old acid attack victim, Sharmila, from Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), has been discharged from St. John's Hospital here after treatment that lasted over a month. They said that she was first admitted to a government hospital in KGF, and doctors did not know how to provide first aid.

They demanded that Government provide assistance to victims of acid attacks.

Members of the organisation said courts should view acid attacks as violence against women and ensure speedy trials of cases and punishment for the accused. To prevent acid attacks on women, the Government should implement measures for regulating production, storage and sale of acid, they added.

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