Kishor Damodar Kodi, a 63-year-old man from Arnal village in Maharashtra, India, came to Nepal on June 18 via the Belahiya border in Rupandehi with his friends. It was a hot day and soon after crossing into Nepal, Kodi fell unconscious. His friends immediately put him in an autorickshaw and took him to the emergency ward of Bhim Hospital in Bhairahawa.

Had there been any delay in taking Kodi to the hospital, it would have been challenging for the doctors to save him, said Dr Subham Sharma, the attending doctor at Bhim Hospital. “Kodi had fainted due to a heat stroke. It took us around half an hour to bring his body temperature to normal and revive him,” said Sharma.

According to Prakash Purushottam Bhudki, one of Kodi’s friends who had accompanied Kodi to Nepal from Maharashtra, Kodi had been feeling unwell throughout their journey from Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) to Sunauli on the Nepal-India border.

“He was already feeling sick after getting off the bus at Sunauli. We walked to the Belahiya border. After we passed the immigration, Kodi suddenly collapsed, unconscious,” said Bhudki.

According to the Rupandehi District Police Office, on June 12, an unknown man was found unconscious at the Bhairahawa bus park. Police took him to Bhim Hospital for treatment, but that man died an hour after reaching there while undergoing treatment. The man’s body still lies in the hospital unclaimed, said police. “His medical report indicates he died after his heart, lungs, brain, and kidneys stopped working due to excessive heat,” said Sharma.

According to the data of the District Police Office, the number of people found dead and unconscious in Rupandehi since the second week of June is 13—12 were found dead while one man was saved by doctors at Bhim Hospital.

Bharat Bahadur BK, head of the District Police Office, said the condition in which the people were found suggests heat strokes and other medical issues caused by extremely hot weather were responsible for the deaths.

“Those found dead and unconscious were labourers and homeless people with no identification or address on them,” said BK. “Medical reports of the deceased suggest that they were not taking precautions to avoid the heat, traces of alcohol were found in the blood of some of them whereas some were doing physical labour in extreme heat.”

The Tarai districts of Lumbini have been experiencing temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius for the last couple of weeks. On Thursday, Bhairawaha recorded a maximum of 37.4 degrees Celsius.

According to data from Lumbini Province Police Office, Dang, the cases of death and unconsciousness caused by hot weather in Rupandehi, Nawalparasi (West), Kapilvastu, Banke, Bardiya, and other Tarai districts of the province between May 15 and June 19 stood at 21—four people were found unconscious but died in the course of treatment while the rest were found dead.

“People fainting in crowded public transport due to heat is also on the rise,” said DSP Janak Malla of the Lumbini Province Police Office.

Dr Aarif Hussain, spokesman for Bhim Hospital, said that the number of patients at the hospital has been increasing every passing day. “Since mid-May, there has been an increase in patients visiting the hospital with complaints of very high body temperatures, slurred speech, hot and dry skin and profuse sweating, among other symptoms of a heat stroke,” said Hussain. “About 20 percent of total patients visiting the hospital have problems caused by heat. Because extreme heat depletes the amount of water in the body, it takes an immediate toll on patients who are chronically ill or have other health problems. If the person does not receive medical attention immediately, it can lead to death.”

Tej KC, administration coordinator of Universal Teaching Hospital in Bhairahawa, said that since the temperature started increasing, the number of children and elderly people coming to the hospital has increased. “The children’s ward in the hospital is full as of Thursday,” said KC.

In Palpa, where the temperature in the last few weeks has been hovering between 36 and 40 degrees Celsius, several young people who went swimming in rivers, streams, ponds, and dams to escape the heat have drowned, according to Sarita Adhikari, district representative of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

People, mostly from the Tarai region, come to swim in the Khalanga, Bhootkhola, and Tinaukhola rivers of the district to cool off.

According to the District Police Office, Palpa, in the last month, 16 people drowned in rivers, streams, ponds, and dams in the district.

Birendra Thapa, information officer at the Palpa District Police Office, said that several people swim in the rivers, ponds, and dams of Palpa during the summer and drown when they don’t follow safety precautions. “In the last fiscal year, 23 people drowned and 10 of them died in a dam in Tinau Rural Municipality ward 3 alone,” said Thapa.

Published on: 26 June 2023 | The Kathmandu Post