With the summer heat reaching its peak across the country, Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh seems to be facing the worst brunt. So far there have been at least 68 deaths and as many as 500 hospitalisations recorded in the state’s eastern district.
Although initially, Diwakar Singh, the chief medical superintendent in the Ballia district had attributed these deaths to the prevailing heat wave conditions but following his ouster from his post on June 17, the district magistrate soon after mentioned that the deaths were because of a variety of reasons other than the heat wave conditions in the region.
“There are many reports mentioning that people have died due to heat wave conditions in Ballia. There is no concrete evidence to attribute the deaths to the heat wave. The chief medical superintendent has been removed from his post for issuing statements without concrete proof,” Ravindra Kumar, district magistrate told the press today, on June 19.
“The hospitals in the district have been stocked with fresh supplies of the necessary medicines and ORS [oral rehydration solution] to combat the heat wave conditions,” he added.
Also, Brijesh Pathak, the Deputy Chief Minister also told the press assured that the government is prepared to tackle the heat wave conditions and that the medical facilities have the supplies to tackle the surge in hospitalisations.
“People don’t need to buy medicines from private pharmacies, the government is keeping its supplies stable and all medical arrangements are in place,” Pathak added.
Issuing a statement while interacting with the press, the chief medical officer in the Ballia district Jayant Kumar stated that a total of 14 people had lost their lives in the last 24 hours. “A total of 178 people have been admitted to the hospitals in the last 24 hours due to extreme heat,” he was quoted.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department [IMD] has mentioned that ‘heat wave to severe heat wave’ conditions prevail in many parts of east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh. Of these, maximum deaths and hospitalisations have been reported from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
In the wake of the deaths and hospitalisations in Uttar Pradesh, the state administration has issued a letter to all districts urging the concerned authorities to ensure preparedness to tackle any emergencies arising out of the heat wave conditions.
“Ensure that the medicines, ice packs,ORS, salts, are abundantly available at the hospitals. Also, ensure that the electronic devices are available and functional. Ensure that air conditioners and coolers are working,” the letter issued by the chief secretary on June 18 mentioned
The heat action plan
Meanwhile, the heat wave conditions have brought the state’s response to these extreme weather conditions.
In December last year, the Union government had mentioned that the National Disaster Management Authority [NDMA] and the IMD were working with 23 states that are vulnerable to heatwave conditions to develop state-level action plans. These include Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
“The Heat Action Plan is a comprehensive early warning system and preparedness plan for extreme heat events. The plan presents immediate as well as longer-term actions to increase preparedness, information-sharing, and response coordination to reduce the health impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable populations. NDMA and IMD are working with 23 states prone to high temperatures leading to heat-wave conditions to develop heat action plan,” Jitendra Singh, Minister of State [Independent Charge] in the Union Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences stated in a written reply to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha on December 12, 2022.
The minister had also mentioned that the heat action plan will be operational in 2023.
However, while the heat action plan is yet to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh, the standard operating procedures [SOPs] on heat wave management have been issued by the state government. The SOPs are a detailed guiding document which seek to ensure a coordinated response.
Here are the SOPs for the management of heat wave in the rural areas:
To download the PDF of the SOPs to tackle heat wave, click HERE.
This is a developing story. Further details awaited.
