Indus Valley Times

Victims, among others, included daily-wage earners, truck drivers

By Sukant Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, May 31: As many as 16 people have died and many others have fallen sick after they suffered from suspected heatstrokes in Odisha’s Sundergarh district since Thursday afternoon.

While 14 people died on Thursday, two more persons succumbed to the excessive heat conditions on Friday, reports from Sundergarh said.

Twenty-three persons, who fell sick due to suspected heatstrokes, were undergoing treatment at Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH), informed Ashutosh Kulkarni, Sundargarh, additional district magistrate.

The unnatural death has become a matter of serious concern as another 10 patients have been referred to Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital in Bhubaneswar for better treatment after their condition worsened.

“Through the night, there were two deaths. As of morning, the death tally rose to four. At least eight people were brought dead on Thursday. Steps are being taken to conduct their autopsy in the presence of police. We will ascertain the reason of the deaths after post-mortem,” informed Ashutosh Kulkarni, ADM Sundargarh.

He further said, “On Wednesday, five people were referred to Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital in Bhubaneswar. Over the night, another five people are being referred. So, currently, at least 10 people are undergoing treatment in Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital.”

“The conditions of the undergoing treatment at Rourkela Government Hospital are stable. We also have set up extra rooms to accommodate patients if the numbers increase. There is a high possibility that this happened due to heat stroke. But, it will be ascertained by the doctors’ team. A senior doctor has been directed to lead the treatment with the help of junior doctors. As the heatwave is likely to continue for another day, I request all the labour class people to stay indoors and avoid going out to work in the heat,” Kulkarni added.

Not all the patients are from the labour class. Some of them were at home, yet they experienced drowsiness and vomiting. Yes, we will adhere to strict rules of not doing labour work in the restricted hours,” he said.

Unofficial sources from Jharsuguda said a few truck drivers in the district died due to heatstrokes.

The police has sent the bodies of the dead for post-mortem.

Odisha has been reeling under intense heatwave conditions for a couple of days now with termperature hovering around 47 degrees Celsius at many places.