Heatwave in Delhi: 5 deaths reported over two days; over 45 people admitted with heatstroke

Delhi continues to be in the grip of a heatwave with maximum temperature feeling like 51 degree Celsius as per the Met DepartmentThe Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the national capital has reported five deaths due to suspected heatstroke while at least 12 people are in critical condition battling for their lives on ventilator support reported the ANIAs per the ANI according to Dr Ajay Shukla Medical Superintendent of RML Hospital 11 people were admitted to the hospital on Tuesday with heat stroke the highest reported in a single day this season He said that since the beginning of the heatwave about a month or so ago at least 45 people have been admitted with heatrelated ailments till dateA total of 22 patients have been admitted to the hospital and five have lost their lives due to suspected heatstroke 12 patients are on ventilators and in critical situation The majority of patients are labourers who work in extreme conditions the hospital official said the news agency reported on WednesdayThe official also added that the main reason for the deaths was a delay in reaching the hospitalSo far we have received a total of 4550 patients and around 7 people have died since the beginning of the heatwave situation he said according to the PTIMost of the patients are poor migrant labourers They do a lot of physical work so they are very prone to heatstroke Most of the patients die because they are late in reaching the hospital The mortality rate in this is 6070 per cent If treatment is delayed the number of deaths can be quite high he addedThe doctor said that most patients were middleaged Most of them are labourers most of them are breadwinners of the family This is one set of patients The other set of patients are the neglected patients the elderly who are in their house Mostly they were on the top floor they were not taking care of their hydration because of their elderly age said Dr Amlendu Yadav HOD Department of Emergency Medicine RML Hospital the ANI reportedThe official added that delays in administering treatment to heatstroke victims led to such them landing in Intensive Care UnitsBut the common thing between these two categories is that most of these patients in the last week reported very late so their prognosis is getting worse because of late reporting I just request people to get awareness about heatstroke and report it early so that the prognosis and outcome get better We should create awareness about the protection from the heatstroke and keeping adequate hydration for such patients the doctor added as per the ANIDr Seema Balkrishna Wasnik senior consultant Department of Emergency Medicine RML hospital said Yesterday 82 yr old patient died due to shock because by the time she reached she was already criticalEarlier the National Centre for Disease Control NCDC confirmed that there have been at least 56 deaths from heatstroke in multiple statesIn May alone 46 people have died due to heatstroke However suspected heatstroke cases in May were 1918According to data shared by states over 7 lakh people were admitted to emergency departments of primary care hospitalsMeanwhile the India Meteorological Department IMD said that heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are likely to continue over many parts of North India on Wednesday and gradually abate thereafter due to an approaching western disturbance towards northwest Indiawith ANI inputs