Heat-induced emergencies on the rise across Gujarat

With maximum temperatures in the state hovering over 40ºC since last week, a corresponding increase in heat-induced emergencies was seen. In fact, there was a rise of about 20% in emergency calls on April 23 when April's first heat wave hit the state.

The data released by GVK- Emergency Management Research Institute which handles the 108 service, shows that from April 20 to 27, calls for seasonal emergencies including heat-induced health problems namely dehydration, high-grade fever due to sunstroke, acute abdominal pain, Acute Respiratory Deficiency Syndrome (ARDS), and rapid breathing have gone up.

While 108 got about 50 calls a day in Ahmedabad city pertaining to heat-induced problems in the last week, an average of 17 calls were received in Rajkot, and 37 calls each in Surat and Vadodara.
Heat-induced emergencies showed a rise of 20% on April 23 when the heat wave hit the state and maximum temperatures remained between 40 and 44ºC at various places in Gujarat, said Jasvant Prajapati, senior official at GVK-EMRI.

In Ahmedabad, which recorded a maximum temperature of 42.3 ºC on April 23, the emergencies rose from 50 to 83 calls. Meanwhile, on the same day, the number of calls in Rajkot rose to 24 from an average of 17 per day; it rose to 47 in Surat from 37 and from 30 to 48 calls in Vadodara. 

Interestingly, the 20% rise matches the rise in maximum temperatures noted by the local weather office. And maximum temperatures have once again started mounting since April 23.

About 25% of emergency calls which the state's 108 EMRI authorities have been attending since mid-March are linked with seasonal health emergencies, said officials.

Since late March, GVK-EMRI's 108 services, which attends about 2000 emergencies in the state daily, has been receiving an average of 25% of calls of seasonal emergency, its officials said.