India recorded 33 heat-related deaths in 2022, none in 2023 yet

NEW DELHI: Over 30 deaths were reported in India due to heat-related illness in 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.No heat-related deaths have been reported in 2023, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said.

Of the 33 heat-related deaths reported in 2022, 27 were from Maharashtra. Three were from Odisha, two were from Telangana and one was from Andhra Pradesh.

Pawar said the ministry had released a National Action plan on heat-related illness in 2021. This document provides guidance to manage severe heat-related illnesses in terms of clinical management, health facility preparedness and surveillance of heat-related illnesses. 

Based on the guiding principle of the National Action Plan, 18 states have prepared action plans for heat-related illnesses. 

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The Union Health Ministry has started collecting data on morbidity and mortality due to heat-related illness through Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) from heat-vulnerable states/union territories since 2015, the minister said in an answer to another written question. 

As per the data shared by the minister, many states have not reported heat-related deaths.

While in 2018, 25 deaths were recorded; in 2019, 215 deaths were reported, with Bihar reporting as many as 121 deaths, followed by Telangana (42) and Andhra Pradesh (29).

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, not many states reported heat-related deaths. The only states that shared the information were Kashmir, where two people died due to heat-related illness, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu region where one death each was recorded.

In 2021, when Covid-19 was at its peak in India, none of the states shared the information.