Telangana and Andhra Pradesh could take cue from the state government on reducing number of heat stroke deaths
In May, 1998 when I was travelling in Odisha, hospitals reported 2,042 deaths due to heat stroke across the state, right from the coastal cities to western regions.
A doctor posted at a government hospital in the coastal town of Kendrapara said, “I have counted more deaths than births in a week. Heat wave has killed more people than an epidemic.”
He was right given that Odisha’s coastal region was never known for high temperatures. On my way from the state capital Bhubaneswar to the western city of Sambalpur—a close to 300 km drive in a state transport bus—my co-passengers were overwhelmed by the prevailing heat wave condition.
Most of them recounted a story of death in their families. A few, in fact, were on way home to attend funerals of their relatives who had died as a result of the heat wave. Western Odisha is always known for high temperatures, but deaths on such a massive scale were not heard of.
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