54 dead, 400 hospitalised in 72 hours in UP hospital due to extreme heat:Report

Digital Desk: In Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, in the past three days, 54 people have died and around 400 have been hospitalised due to the district's record-breaking heat. Officials have given different explanations for the deaths.

In total, 23 patients passed away on June 15—20 the next day, and 11 yesterday.

A senior government doctor from Lucknow, who is the head of the investigation team, today ruled out heat as the cause of the deaths, despite government doctors stationed in the area in eastern Uttar Pradesh having previously claimed the deaths may have been related to a heatwave.

"At first glance, these do not appear to be heatwave-related deaths because other regions experiencing comparable circumstances are not reporting comparable death rates. Most of the earliest symptoms were chest pain, which is not typically the first sign of a heatwave," a senior government physician AK Singh said.

He also asserted that there may be a connection between water and the death.

"It will be looked into to see if the deaths were caused by the water or if there was another factor. To examine water samples, the climate department will also visit," the man stated.

A Chief Medical Superintendent rank doctor assigned to Ballia earlier in the day was relieved of his duties after his on-the-record claim that many of the fatalities were caused by heatstroke went viral. He was fired for "giving a careless statement on deaths caused by heatwave without having proper information," according to UP Health Minister Brajesh Pathak.

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, blamed the state administration for the deaths, which infuriated the opposition.

"The negligence of the state government has resulted in the deaths of so many people in UP. The public should have been informed about the heatwave. In the past six years, not a single district hospital has been constructed in UP. Poor farmers who lost their lives as a result of delayed access to food, medication, and medical care, were farmers, he claimed.

Brajesh Pathak stated that he is personally keeping an eye on the situation in Ballia and that the administration has taken the incident there seriously.

The hospital has become overcrowded as a result of the abrupt rise in fatalities and the number of patients being admitted with fever, respiratory problems, and other problems; this has alerted the personnel.

There is such a rush at the district hospital that many nurses are carrying their patients to the emergency department on their shoulders and patients are unable to get stretchers. However, the Additional Health Director emphasised that it becomes challenging if ten people turn up there at once, even though they do have stretchers.