The Anantapur district administration is leaving no stone unturned in meeting any exigency arising out of the heatwave-like situation that will prevail till May-end.
While there were two sunstroke-related deaths in the district in 2018, 15 claims were also made. "We learnt a lot from our experiences and failures last year and the result is there for everyone to see," District Medical and Health Officer K.V.N.S. Anil Kumar told The Hindu.
Temperatures were 2-3° Celsius higher on an average in Anantapur this April compared to last year, with humidity levels too on the higher side, making people susceptible to heat exhaustion, the first sign of heatstroke. Despite these conditions, the reporting of heatwave-related complications at grassroots-level PHCs and area hospitals was lower compared to 2018.
Measures in place
Anantapur district then did not have sufficient stock of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) in 2018 and Special Development Plan Funds were used to buy these life-saving packets. Currently, every PHC, Area Hospital has an ORS corner where visiting patients are made to read out a poster on Dos and Don’ts to a group before distributing packets to them.
Giving figures of two weeks of peak temperatures recorded in Anantapur, Kurnool, Nandyal, Kadapa and Tirupati, S. Malleswari Sadineni, Senior Scientist Agrometeorology at Agriculture Research Station, Rekulakunta, says temperatures remained consistently high from April 19, 2018 to May 4, 2018 in the entire Rayalaseema region. Anantapur recorded relatively lower temperatures on any given day.
During the current year, however, except for a few days when it rained, temperatures remained higher than last year. From April 19 to 30 this year, temperatures remained above 41°C while April 25 recorded the highest temperature this season at 44°C followed by 43°C for the next three days and 42°C on April 29.
Warning signs
The first level of impact is heat exhaustion with headache as the main symptom. The second level of impact is heatstroke with muscle cramps and weakness as indication, and the third degree of impact is excess thirst and turning unconscious. Even those remaining in air-conditioned chambers and coming out for short duration in 40°C or above need to maintain their electrolyte balance by consuming ORS along with sufficient water.
Last year, a majority of those affected were people working in the sun and to meet their needs, the District Administration stocked five lakh packets of ORS at the field-level and another 10 lakh packets at the headquarters. DRDA and DWMA project sites were identified and 52,000 packets were stocked at those places in the 63 mandals. Rains in April brought some relief to people, but with a prediction of temperatures going beyond 43°C during May after Cyclone Fani recedes, an alert has been sounded among all vulnerable sections.