Health and Tech: ‘Avoid heat strokes by taking precautions’

Directorate of Public Health is rolling out the summer action plan and taking measures to prepare government hospitals for the summer months in Telangana

Hyderabad: The heat wave season in Hyderabad and in other parts of Telangana typically starts in March, peaks in May and tapers in June, and the crucial four months that puts a lot of pressure on public healthcare institutions, also requires a lot of effort on the part of general public to stay alert and be cautious.

While the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) is rolling out the summer action plan and taking measures to prepare government hospitals for the summer months, health officials have urged people to take precautions and avoid heat strokes.

“The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people and cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death. This is entirely preventable and people can take some simple measures to avoid morbidity and mortality due to extreme weather conditions,” says DPH, Telangana, Dr G Srinivasa Rao.

A slew of measures are being taken up to tackle the anticipated rise in cases of heat strokes and water-borne disease this summer. Some of the measures include establishing control rooms, alerting surveillance units in all districts, making 24×7 helpline numbers available for people and appointing a senior official in the district as nodal person to coordinate the public health response.

Apart from that, the Public Health wing of the State is also ensuring availability of rapid response teams (RRTs) in all districts, lifesaving drugs at local government health care facilities and streamlining communication systems to efficiently alert incidents of heat strokes and other related incidents across the entire chain of the healthcare ecosystem.

“We will also launch a massive awareness campaign on the importance of taking precautions during summer. However, its success will also depend on general public, who have to take precautions for the next four months,” Dr Rao added.