Between March 1 and June 20, there have been as many as 143 deaths due to the prolonged heat wave that is sweeping a large part of the country, while 41,789 people suffered from suspected heatstroke, according to sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The actual toll, however, is likely to be much higher as the data compiled by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the National Heat-Related Illness and Death Surveillance, does not have updated submissions from states.
Additionally, several health facilities are yet to upload data on the number of casualties due to the heat wave.
Here are the latest updates deaths due to heat wave:
(1.) The official data shows that on June 20 itself, there were 14 confirmed deaths due to heatstroke and nine due to suspected heatstroke, pushing the toll in the March-June period from 114 to 143.
(2.) Uttar Pradesh is the worst-affected state with 35 casualties, followed by Delhi (21) and Bihar and Rajasthan (17 each), as per the data.
(3.) However, it is estimated that the temperatures in the national capital may have caused nearly 100 more fatalities, including the 40 such cases recorded at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (DDU), pending confirmation through autopsies.
(4.) Officials in the nearby Gautam Buddh Nagar’s health department also said that at least 75 bodies were received for post-mortem from June 18 to 20, as against the daily average of around seven or eight deaths.
(5.) “There has been an increase in the number of post-mortem cases and this increase is quite unexpected. On June 18, we received 28 bodies. On June 19, we received 25 bodies and by the evening of June 20, we had received 22 bodies,” Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Suneel Kumar Sharma said.
(6.) Of these bodies, the hospitals received 20 as ‘brought dead’ of which 10 were ‘unidentified.’
(7.) On Thursday, Union health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda directed officials to visit the Central government-run health facilities to assess the number of deaths due to heatstroke over the last few days.
(8.) Nadda also asked officials to see to it that hospitals are prepared for providing the best treatment to the affected as he reviewed the situation across the country and preparedness of hospitals to deal with it.
(9.) The health ministry has released an advisory for state health departments on directions of the Union health minister.
(10.) As per the advisory, ‘the country may observe above normal seasonal maximum temperatures in-line with the observed trend of summertime temperatures. To reduce health impacts of extreme heat, health departments must ensure preparedness and timely response.’
(With PTI inputs)
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