Jamshedpur, March 23 : With temperature shooting up to 39 degree Celsius, three notches above normal and with forecast of a further rise, East Singhbhum district health department issued a heat alert in city and its outskirts.
As part of the alert, the East Singhbhum civil surgeon Dr Maheshwar Prasad issued letters to all the private and government hospitals and nursing homes in the district to immediately start ORS counters and stock medicines and make necessary arrangement to treat cases of heat stroke.
� We are concerned over prevailing situation. The directive has been issued today to both private and state-owned health centers. We will be conducting surprise inspections at the community health centers and primary health centers at different blocks,� he said.
The hot and scorching summer in the city has not only made life difficult but has also increased the woes of the people. Several cases of serious diseases, such as dehydration, gastroenteritis, jaundice and viral fever are being reported in the city with nursing homes and hospitals witnessing spurt in admissions. Sources at nursing homes like Steel City Nursing Home, Rajasthan Seva Sadan and Life Line Nursing Home informed that they were treating at least six cases of flue and dehydration on daily basis.
The health department directive has also advised health centers to educate patients who are visiting the health centers for some other diseases about preventive steps against heat.
�We have issued a dossier asking the hospital managements to ask their nursing staff or the doctors on duty at OPD to educate people to avoid working under direct sun especially in rural areas and in city outskirts where the populace is not much educated and also inform about preventive steps as drinking plenty of water and plenty of rest,� the civil surgeon added.
