Heatwave in India: Center orders hospitals amid killer heatwave, Delhi faces triple damage

Here are the top heat wave developments in India.

• At least four deaths due to heatstroke have been reported in Delhi so far. While LNJP Hospital reported two deaths last week, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdar Jung Hospital reported one death each.

  According to Dr Suresh Kumar, Managing Director of LNJP Hospital, most of the people affected by the heat wave were laborers or rickshaw pullers and most of them were above 60 years of age.

• Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Wednesday ordered all central government hospitals and medical institutions to prioritize admission and treatment of heat stroke patients. Nadda also directed to start special heatwave units in central government hospitals.

• Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj also chaired an emergency meeting with heads of all major hospitals in Delhi. He directed the hospitals to increase the number of beds for heat-related diseases.

  Apart from the hospitals, the health ministry will send a communication to the Delhi Police Commissioner asking his patrolling teams to call an ambulance if their teams find anyone suffering from high fever. Patrolling teams of Delhi Police will also be requested to assist in shifting the homeless to shelter homes if they are lying under the open sky.

• According to a PTI report, operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were also affected due to the heat wave.

  A senior civil aviation ministry official told PTI that an aircraft requires lift to take off and the lift is affected by the density of the surrounding air. The official said that flights are sometimes delayed or waiting for wind speed to decrease.

• On Wednesday, Delhi Water Minister Atashi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the water crisis in the city. He threatened that if the issue is not resolved in a couple of days, then the strike will be called for an indefinite period from June 21.

  Atashi accused Haryana of not releasing Delhi's share of water and said that despite writing a letter to the Haryana government, they are not resolving the issue.

• However, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini rejected Atashi's claims and blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for Delhi's woes.

  He said that we are giving water to Delhi but the Delhi government has not been able to fix the water distribution system there. People of Delhi are suffering because of Kejriwal's mistakes.

• Massive power consumption amid weeks of intense heat wave pushed Delhi's peak power demand to a record high of 8,656 MW on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, the highest electricity demand was recorded at 8647 MW which is the second highest this summer season.

• Northwest India has recorded 10.2 mm of rain since the onset of monsoon on June 1, which is 70 percent below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

• According to the Meteorological Department, Delhi experienced the hottest night in 12 years on Wednesday with the minimum temperature settling at 35.2 degrees Celsius, eight notches above the season's normal. The last hottest night recorded in the city was in June 2012 when the minimum temperature was 34 degrees Celsius.

• The National Disaster Management Authority has also issued dos and don'ts amid heat wave conditions. These include avoiding going out in the sun between 12 pm and 3 pm, drinking plenty of water, avoiding strenuous activities, avoiding high protein foods.