Heat wave deaths in the past four days crossed the 100-mark to 117 in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as the scorcher in northern India led to separate heatstroke wards in hospitals and jolted the authorities into other preventive emergency measures.
Ballia continued bearing the brunt in UP, with 14 more patients succumbing at the district hospital to heat-related ailments in the past 24 hours, taking the overall toll to 68 since June 15. A committee appointed by the government visited villages in the Bansdih and Garwar blocks, from where most casualties were reported. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to provide immediate medical help to people falling ill and ensure uninterrupted supply of drinking water and electricity.
In Bihar, seven persons perished in Bhojpur district in the past two days. In Bihar, where 15 districts were in the grip of heatwave, including 10 reeling under severe heatwave, 42 deaths were reported in the past two days, according to a report. Among the fatalities, 35 occurred at two hospitals in Patna, where over 200 patients suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting were being treated.
Authorities warned elderly people and others with various medical issues to stay inside during the afternoon as a result of the deaths in UP. “As per hospital records, 54 deaths (23 on June 15, 20 on June 16 and 11 on June 17) were reported. Broadly, 60% of the deaths were linked to other diseases, while fever was the cause of admission in 40%,” said UP infectious diseases director Dr A K Singh.
Most patients were admitted with chest pain, breathlessness and fever, he said. Earlier, the government removed the chief medical superintendent of Ballia district hospital, Dr Diwakar Singh, for making “generalised and careless” statements that led to panic in the region.