Two more die of heat in state; govt’s relief plan to now cover 22 districts

The prevailing heat wave across Maharashtra claimed two more lives on Friday, taking the total number of deaths to four people in the state.

On Friday, 82-year-old Basappa Nagappa from the Solapur district died of a sun stroke — the third senior citizen death after two other heat-related deaths in Aurangabad and Solapur a day earlier.

The fourth victim was an Akola resident. Pradeep Aawte, a state surveillance officer from the public health department confirmed the death.

Despite the weather department’s prediction of the heat wave subsiding, the Maharashtra government has extended its action plan to cover 22 districts where mercury levels crossed the normal mark last week.

This includes all eleven districts in Vidarbha, eight in Marathwada, two in Nashik region and one district in the Pune region.

Dr Satish Pawar, director of health services, confirmed the development. “We have now decided to extend the heat wave action plan from six to 22 districts. The objective is to stop loss of human life by being prepared and extending the best services in time,” Dr Pawar said.

The action plan includes forming a committee headed by the district collector, appointing of a nodal officer for better coordination between government departments, reserving beds in hospitals with the necessary equipment, starting a helpline and training government officials to identify and get patients admitted to hospital.

“A sun stroke basically paralyses the temperature regulatory system of the body. The only treatment available for such cases is to maintain body temperature below 39 degrees Celsius. The facilities to treat such ailments have been made available at all government hospitals in the 22 districts under the action plan,” Dr Sawant said.

A heat wave occurs when the maximum temperature crosses 40 degrees Celsius or is 5 degrees above the season’s average, and stays that way for five days.