UP authorities refuse to acknowledge rising ‘heatwave deaths’, but Bihar confirms: report
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New Delhi: Searing heat wave claimed at least 70 lives in just one district of Uttar Pradesh and over 50 died in a district in Bihar, NDTV reported.
While authorities in Bihar linked several deaths to heatstroke, Uttar Pradesh government said it was investigating causes and sacked a government doctor in Ballia for making ‘a careless statement on deaths caused by heatwave’
As many as 54 suspected heatwave deaths had taken place over three days from June 16-18 in UP’s Ballia district bordering with Bihar
Mohammad Munna, 60, whose wife Rizwana Khatun died at the Ballia District Hospital of heatstroke symptoms, reportedly claimed to have received a white slip without mentioning the cause of death, which makes it difficult to get death certificate.
‘I admitted my wife to the hospital on June 16 and she died at 7 am the next day. The hospital authorities gave me a slip and asked me to collect the death certificate five days later. When I went to the hospital on that date, I was asked to get an affidavit from the court. I did that, and now they have asked me to come on Saturday,’ said Munna was quoted as saying.
Sangeeta Devi, 32, who lives 8 km away from the hospital, complains of receiving just a white slip after her 65-year-old mother died of fever, according to the report.
However, the Chief Medical Officer of Ballia District Hospital, SK Yadav, said cause of death is under investigation and can mention it in certificates, ‘ only after it is known’.
Despite local media reported 50 suspected heatwave deaths over 24 hours in Deoria district, authorities said there was not a single confirmed case of it.
Meanwhile, at least 50 people died in Bhojpur district of Bihar and the authorities linked several of them to heatstroke.
‘35 patients were brought in because of heatstroke and about 25 have died today (June 20). Most of the patients who died were elderly and had high-grade fever and heatstroke symptoms,’ Dr Rishi from the Ara Sadar Hospital reportedly said.