The Cost Of Acute Burn Patients Treated In A Moroccan Intensive Burn Care Unit.

Abstract

Eighty-five percent of burns occur in low- and middle-income countries, but reports on the cost of burn treatment in these countries are still rare. It is important for patients, their families, the government, society and insurance companies to be aware of the costs of burn treatment. Burn care in specialized burn units requires trained doctors and staff, specialist equipment, facilities, special tissue banks and specific dressings, and is thus very expensive. Burn care in Morocco is not as expensive as in other countries but nonetheless proves to be a high financial burden for patients, their families and the wider society. In this report we comprehensively calculate almost all the direct costs of managing in-hospital acute burns. The mean burn cost per patient in our country is US$ 16 975. We also compare the results of treatment with other reports. In this way, governmental and burn hospital authorities can have a better estimation of the direct costs of a burn center and the total budget that may be required for the whole country to cover the annual costs of treating burn patients.