Heatstroke and deaths data now being digitally recorded for accuracy in 21 states
Amid concerns of climate change leading to severe heatwave and its consequent impact on public health, 120 government hospitals across 21 states have been onboarded wherein the treating doctors will directly upload data on this platform to help public health policy makers take informed decisions.
New Delhi: With several parts of the country facing a severe heatwave, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has created a digital platform to record cases and deaths from heatstroke, according to officials aware of the matter.
Amid concerns of climate change leading to severe heatwave and its impact on public health, doctors at 120 government hospitals across 21 states will now directly upload data on this platform to help public health policy makers take informed decisions.
Manual data will be upgraded to electronic surveillance, a senior NCDC official said. The data is sent to the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP). “The diagnosis of heatstroke deaths is a challenging process and cannot be done by any doctor. Only experts can identify the issue. Now, for real time tracking of such incidents, there are 21 states and 120 hospitals under the surveillance network.”
What is a heatstroke?
Heatstroke is the most serious heat-related illness. The body loses the ability to control temperature which then rises rapidly as the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down. In heatstroke, body temperature can rise to 106°F or more within 10 to 15 minutes. There can be permanent disability or death if the person does not receive emergency treatment.
Also Read: Heatwaves to result in production loss in heat-intensive industries
Symptoms of heatstroke include confusion, altered mental status, slurred speech, loss of consciousness (coma), hot, dry skin or profuse sweating, seizures, very high body temperature, and is fatal if treatment is delayed.
Heatstroke data
“The summer season surveillance is done from March till around July. We inform about the number of heatstroke cases and deaths in the country so that impact of the heat is understood. Climate change is a major issue and there has to be more work done on it. We are try to avert such conditions,” the official noted.
When it comes to recording data on heatstroke, states like Gujarat, Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala are doing well. States such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand are performing moderately, as per NCDC.
“We are expecting all the other states to pick up. There has already been massive improvement in data collection. Some states are even doing patient based surveillance—recording the name of patients dying due to heatstroke—and shared with the Union government,” the official added.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said the intensity of the heatwave in Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand came down slightly on Saturday but predicted that scorching temperatures will continue until 5-6 May. The weather agency has said heatwave to severe heatwave conditions prevailed in parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Telangana, with maximum temperatures settling 3-5 degrees Celsius above normal in these regions.
Also Read | Water level in reservoirs shrinks to 30% of storage capacity
In Maharashtra till end-April, there have been 23 cases of heatstroke, though no fatalities have been reported. However, despite the state facing high temperatures, data for 2024 from the public health department indicates that there has been a big drop in recorded heatstroke cases up to 12 April compared to the same period last year. Up to 12 April, the state reported only 77 cases, contrasting sharply with the 373 cases recorded during the same period last year. This is a 79.3% decline in heat-related cases.