In the course of one day on Sunday, the Ballia district hospital reported 178 admissions and at least 14 new deaths related to the heat wave in Uttar Pradesh. Between June 15 and June 18, the death toll rose to 68, and Lucknow authorities are looking into why this happened.
Ravindra Kumar, the district magistrate, stated on Sunday that there is currently no “solid evidence” connecting the deaths to the high temperatures. The state government fired Dr. Diwakar Singh from his position as chief medical superintendent of the district hospital on Saturday because he “made an irresponsible statement on deaths caused by heat wave without having proper information.”
On June 15, at least 154 patients were admitted to the hospital, and 23 of them passed away. Twenty persons died out of the 137 patients brought to the hospital on June 16. On June 17, 11 hospital deaths were reported, while on June 18, 178 new patients were admitted and 14 fatalities were reported by hospital officials.
According to Ballia Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jayant Kumar, out of the 54 fatalities at the time of his statement, “40% of the patients had fever, while 60% were suffering from other diseases.”
“Only in Ballia have such complaints been made; in neighboring districts, none have. Additionally, fever and loss of consciousness are the first symptoms that a patient in a heat wave complains about. The patient in this instance, however, initially reported chest pain, followed by complaints of breathing issues and fever. Additionally, despite the summer, the fever is not as high as it should be, he said.
