Central team in Bihar to review heatwave situation, assess deaths

Patna: The state health department has received information of at least 25 suspected deaths due to heatwave in the state from 10 districts so far. The data has been gathered by the disaster management cell which was forwarded to the health department.

A team from the Centre is also expected to review the situation on Thursday and assist the state government after an announcement made by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya in this regard.

An official of the department said on Tuesday they have information of 25 suspected deaths, of which nine are confirmed ones. "There are tests to confirm other health issues like dengue or COVID-19, but there is no conclusive test for heat-related deaths. Only through clinical symptoms like very high fever, disorientation or confused mental status, it is ruled out that the death would have happened because of heat waves and by interacting with the family members who can tell about exposure of the victim to the outside weather. While the suspected deaths are those who came to the hospital with symptoms of heatwave and confirmed ones are after postmortem and interaction with the family," he said.

While the official figure is 25, other sources claim the number is much higher. Even deaths in the emergency units of government hospitals have multiplied three to four times in a day, indicating this could be because of extreme hot temperatures.

Even the Union health minister had chaired a high-level meeting on Tuesday to review the situation in two states-Uttar Pradesh and Bihar-which had been facing extreme weather and deaths due to it. Mandaviya had instructed a team to visit both the states.

State health department secretary Sanjay Singh said the team is expected to interact with them on Thursday.