Around 68 people died in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh between June 15 and 19. It is being suspected that the deaths were a result of heatstroke. It was Ballia CMO Dr Diwakar Singh who said that many people have died in the hospital due to different reasons but the extreme heat aggravated their existing health conditions, thus resulting into these deaths.

The Uttar Pradesh government claimed that Dr Singh's statement was unverified and he was removed from his post. The state government also formed a committee to look into the matter which denied heatstroke as the reason behind these fatalities.

Dr KN Tewari, Director - Medical Care, Ballia, told media after inspecting Ballia District Hospital, "We inspected all the wards of the hospital. We have not found even a single case of heatstroke in the hospital. So it cannot be said that these deaths were a result of a heatstroke."

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It's not just the case in Uttar Pradesh. Even Bihar has witnessed multiple deaths since June 15. While Uttar Pradesh has reported over 120 deaths since then, Bihar has reported around 50 fatalities in the same time period. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha are also witnessing a severe heatwave for the last few days.

Even though the UP government's committee continues to dismiss heatstroke as the cause of death, the families have to say otherwise. They told media that the patients displayed heatstroke like symptoms — high fever, breathlessness, chest pain and vomiting.

The state government's committee is looking into other possible reasons and questioned why these deaths due to heatstroke were being reported only in Ballia. The committee claimed that these fatalities could be a result of water contamination or other infections. The concerned department has collected water samples for further testing.

Contrary to the government and its committee's claims, fatalities were being reported from other districts too. Deoria has reported around 54 deaths, Azamgarh 10, and Banda has also reported fatalities. The administration of these district hospitals continues denied heatstroke being the reason behind these deaths.

The current heatwave along with an acute power outage and water shortage across Uttar Pradesh has made matters worse. The state government's committee also spoke about the power outage incidents but it addressed isolated incidents. The committee visited one of the villages Parvatpur in Ballia which had reported some of these deaths. Dr Tewari said, "We went to the affected villages and there is no panic there. One such village is Parvatpur. There are other issues which the villagers are facing. There is no electricity in one third of this village for last 20-21 days. A transformer exploded and caused the outage which is yet to repaired."

Experts said a delayed monsoon has pushed temperatures between 3 and 5 degrees celcius higher than normal in many states including UP, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. They say that normally, cooler weather due to the rains makes it easier to carry out outdoor activities like sowing and preparing the fields -- but this year, these activities have become a little more dangerous -- especially when accompanied with a surge in humidity. GP Sharma, President, Skymet told CNBC that, "The deadly combination of temperature ranging between 42-47 degrees with the humidity level of 40-45% is causing extreme discomfort to the people. Though this temperature range is not unusual for this region, the combination of high humidity levels is proving to be disastrous."

Some experts said poor healthcare facilities in rural areas is also adding to the problem. Ramdutt Tripathi, UP-based senior journalist told CNBC TV-18 that, "The primary health centres remain shut most of the time. There is a shortage of doctors at every medical centre. The government is focusing on building health infrastructure but not on people required to operate the health system."

First Published:Jun 21, 2023 3:45 PM IST