For three days, the northern Indians suffocated to death from “extreme heat wave”, report India Today. At least 98 people were killed in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The Indian magazine thus conveyed the figures communicated by Ballia hospital, where the temperature exceeded 42°C on Friday 16 June and where at least 54 people out of about 400 who were treated between 15 and 17 June died. The patients were suffering from fever, difficulty breathing and other health complications, he explained IndiaToday. In the neighboring state of Bihar, where the thermometer hovered near 45°C, 44 people died within 24 hours.
In Ballia, most of the victims were over 60 years old. “They all suffer from certain ailments and their conditions worsen due to the extreme heat”said the hospital’s chief medical officer. “With the large number of patients flooding the hospital, we are now facing a shortage of beds,” said a hospital official IndiaToday.
The chief medic was fired
After the Uttar Pradesh authorities sent a commission of inquiry, the chief doctor of Ballia hospital was dismissed from his post for having “making reckless remarks about deaths caused by heat waves without having proper information”, further shows Indian Express.
The Indian Meteorological Service further warned residents of a dozen Indian states that a severe heatwave is expected to continue for the next five days.
