SWELTERING HEAT and absence of rain have seen close to 200 cases of heatstroke being reported across Pune, Satara and Solapur districts in the past few days.
According to the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) Heat Wave Report for Pune Circle (Pune, Satara and Solapur), among a total of 2.31 lakh persons examined at the out-patient department (medicine/paediatrics /casualty emergency) from March till date this year, health officials were able to identify 19 persons with heatstroke from Pune, 70 from Satara and 91 from Solapur.
However, there were no heatstroke deaths in the three districts, officials at the Deputy Director of Health, Pune Circle told The Indian Express. The data was collated from across 458 health units including government-run primary health centres, rural hospitals, civic dispensaries and district hospitals.
States had been directed to monitor heat-related illnesses as it has been an extremely warm summer and while Pune did not report deaths, as per official data, there were a total of 12 persons who succumbed to heatstroke across Maharashtra. Health officials said that a total of 2,649 heatstroke cases were reported from March till date with a majority (412) from Raigad district. All the 12 deaths were reported from Raigad district. There were 334 heat stroke cases in Wardha followed by 317 in Nagpur, and among the district that reported a high number of heatstroke cases include Chandrapur, Nandurbar, Amravati, Latur, Mumbai-Suburban and Thane. Extreme heat conditions have been associated with increased chances of heatstroke and exhaustion.
Dr Amit Dravid, infectious diseases expert at Pune’s Noble Hospital told The Indian Express that hot and humid weather conditions can impact the body’s compensatory mechanism — sweating. High humidity inhibits the body’s natural cooling ability and gives rise to symptoms like high fever and muscle cramps.
“I always advise patients to drink at least four litres of water to prevent dehydration,” he said. Heat exhaustion is a milder form of heat-related illness but if not treated can lead to heatstroke, doctors said.
