More than 50 lives have been lost in India's eastern Bihar state due to the heatwave that has been scorching large parts of north and central India. And more than 100 people have died in the state due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) as per official details available till late Monday night.
As many as 32 deaths due to heatwave have been reported from Aurangabad, seven from Nawada and 17 from Gaya in the state so far. The total toll due to AES has been pegged at 104 including 18 deaths at Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur.
Weekend showers provided a much-needed but partial respite to parts of India sweltering in the brutal heatwave.
In the state capital Patna, Bihar chief secretary Deepak Kumar said: "The ambulance facility will be free of cost. If someone comes to the hospital in a private vehicle, the fare will be reimbursed to them.
"Expenses of all treatment will be borne by the state government. Ex-gratia of Rs4 Lakh each will be given to the families of the deceased," said Kumar.
Further, all the government and government-aided schools have been asked to remain closed till June 22 in view of the prevailing heat conditions.
"The state is suffering from severe and detrimental heatwave conditions. It is necessary for the students to remain indoors," said a release from the Bihar Education Project Council.
Skymet weather reports suggested that the mercury rose to as high as 45.8 degree Celsius in Gaya and Patna, making it the highest all over the country on Saturday and Sunday.
In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, people have been advised to stay indoors between 11am and 4pm. Earlier this month, four elderly passengers on board the Kerala Express train died of suffocation.
The heatwave, one of the longest on record, has been scorching large parts of north and central India with temperatures of more than 40C.
But this year the temperatures have been unusually high even for June, touching 48C near the airport in Delhi last week – the hottest June day in the Indian capital on record – and above 50C in Rajasthan.
Tens of thousands of people in drought-affected villages in north India have left their homes because they do not have any drinking water either for themselves or for their cattle.
Even in Jammu and Kashmir in the Himalayas, where many Indians go to escape the summer heat, the temperature has reached 39C.
Meanwhile, as there is no respite from the AES, a viral disease which causes mild flu-like symptoms such as high fever, convulsions, and headache, the Central government on Monday deployed another high-level multi-disciplinary team to Bihar for undertaking the necessary groundwork for setting up a state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary research centre at Muzaffarpur.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday also reviewed the situation arising from the reported cases of AES at a high-level meeting, which was also attended by senior officers of the Health Ministry, ICMR, and AIIMS. Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey was also present.
"To establish the cause of the disease, there is an urgent need for an inter-disciplinary, high-quality research team. The research team shall work with the children suffering from AES looking at various aspects including periodicity, the cycle of disease, environmental factors, and metrological data, besides other factors," said Vardhan.
The minister also said that five virological labs will be set up in different districts in the state. In one of the decisions taken during his visit to Muzaffarpur, Vardhan has instructed to set up a 100-bed paediatric ICU at SKMCH by the state government. Also, in the adjoining districts, 10-bed paediatric ICUs will be set up with support from the Centre so that such cases can be given better and exclusive treatment and there is no unnecessary load on the facilities available at SKMCH.
Emphasising the need for early detection and treatment of hypoglycemia cases, Vardhan said that a dedicated team of doctors should be placed in endemic PHCs with required facilities at least for three to four months before and during the onset of disease.