Sambalpur: Sambalpur district health administration is on a high alert with the mercury rising with each passing day. Health authorities are closely monitoring the situation as sunstroke and heat-related cases are being reported almost every day.
Speaking on the situation, additional district medical officer (public health) Dr Panchanan Naik said Thursday 12 patients had been brought to district headquarters hospital (DHH) in the last six days for treatment of sunstroke and heat-stress effects.
He said only two patients out of 12 were admitted to the indoor ward for treatment while the rest were sent back home after treatment at the outdoor patient department (OPD).
Naik assured that the health administration is alert about such cases and there is no need to be alarmed. A ‘cool thing’ is DHH has provided two AC rooms for heat-hit patients.
The district administration has made it a point to monitor sunstroke cases during summer after 1998 as 127 deaths were recorded officially in the district that year. The unofficial figure might be higher. People are yet to forget those horrible days as dead bodies were found to be in queue for cremation that summer.
1998 was a grim reminder how death danced in summer, particularly on two days in the town. May 27, 19 bodies were brought for cremation at the municipality crematorium ‘Rajghat’ and the next day, 13 bodies arrived there. That entire area was crowded as people had to wait for hours keeping the bodies on the street for their turn to perform the last rites.
The main reason for such devastation was lack of awareness among the people about sunstroke, its implications and on means to counter it. Since then, the state government has made it a point to create awareness among the people and the situation is far better in these 20 years with sunstroke casualty rate coming down to less than one per cent.
There is only one sunstroke death in the district this year so far as per the official record. Kishor Rohidas (38) of Kusumdihi village in Rengali block died of sunstroke April 18.