Heatwave crisis | Develop training manuals to prevent deaths, Mansukh Mandaviya tells affected states

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya along with Nityanand Rai, MoS Home, chairing a virtual meet with states reeling under severe heatwave.

While reviewing the public health preparedness to tackle the current heatwave situation in seven states, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on June 21 urged officials to develop training manuals for medical officers and health workers to save lives.

“State-level trainers need to ensure that their training is up to field level. Capacity building of medical officers, health staff and sensitisation of grassroots-level workers on heat illness, with focus on early recognition and management using training manuals provided by the Union Health Ministry, is crucial,” Mandaviya told officials during a meeting.

The meeting was attended by officials from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, which are reeling under severe heatwave condition.

“Sharing of ideas, expertise and best practices by states help in enriching everyone in effectively managing heat-related illness,” the minister observed.

Also read: Mandaviya chairs key meeting; five-member team to visit affected states

Mandaviya advised state officials to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply, installation of solar panels and measures to reduce indoor heat.

“Effective disaster response and management is a collaborative work; With coordinated actions, we can surely ensure there are no deaths due to heat waves,” Mandaviya added.

The minister further urged state governments to implement state action plans at the ground level with a timely warning to the people and ensure preventive preparedness to reduce the severe impact of heatwaves.

Nityanand Rai, Union Minister of State for Home, urged states to share field-level data on heatwaves, including on deaths, for a realistic assessment of the situation.

Also read: ICMR reviewing preliminary findings on link between Covid jabs and sudden heart attack deaths: DG Rajiv Bahl

The health ministry officials also presented a granular status and analysis of overall heatstroke cases and deaths in India and heat-related illness in the seven affected states.

The data from the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal showed the trajectory of total emergency OPD, suspected and confirmed heatstroke cases and deaths.

This was the second meeting held by the health minister on the heatwave. Mandaviya on June 20 also chaired a high-level meeting to discuss ways to deal with the prevailing heatwave.

The Indian Council of Medical Research officials have been told to conduct a study and suggest ways to minimise the adverse effect of the heatwave on health.