Tea vendor, guard, sanitation worker among 6 heat stroke patients at Delhi’s RML hospital

This comes amid a severe heat wave alert issued by the India Meteorological Department for the next three days. Heat stroke occurs, doctors say, when the body is no longer able to control its rising temperature and the sweating mechanism that helps to cool down the body fails.

According to officials at the hospital, four patients were admitted to the ICU and are on ventilator support. Two others are in the Medicine ward, a senior doctor from the Medicine Department said.

Of the patients, the 40-year-old security guard, from Central Delhi, had a 110 degrees Fahrenheit temperature, the highest ever recorded at the hospital. “He was unconscious when he was brought in. He is now on ventilator support,” the doctor said.

“The sanitation worker and the tea vendor had a temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit and were also brought to the hospital unconscious,” he added.

Another patient admitted on Monday was an 80-year-old man who developed heart attack-like symptoms post the heat stroke. His test results are awaited, the doctors said.

According to Dr Ritesh Gupta, the 80-year-old had hyperthermia — an abnormally high body temperature or overheating — he was not sweating, his rectal temperature was 107.5 degrees Fahrenheit and he too was unconscious when he was brought in.

“The patient also showed symptoms of a heart attack as he was not able to breathe, his BP was very low and his condition had deteriorated. The man is now on a ventilator after we provided him immersion cooling and cardiac care. His CT scan and cardiology reference reports are awaited,” said Dr Gupta.

Of the two patients brought to the hospital Sunday, one was a 31-year-old woman who had been travelling for over 24 hours and was constantly vomiting. “She was referred to RML from a private hospital,” said Dr Pulin Gupta, adding that she had a very high BP as well.
“She had shown symptoms of heat-related illness with hypertensive emergency,” the doctor said, adding that she reached the hospital in a bad state.

The sixth patient is a 60-year-old man whom the doctors say is recovering and is stable.

He reached the hospital without any attendant, after falling unconscious while working in extreme heat conditions.

“His body temperature was 105 degrees Fahrenheit,” Dr Gupta said. The patient was provided with immersion cooling and is now recovering in the medicine ward.

Meanwhile, four heat stroke patients have been admitted at the Safdarjung Hospital since last Tuesday, officials said. At the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Hospital, one patient was admitted after developing heat stroke-like symptoms.

“We are seeing 4-6 cases of dehydration every day,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director at Lok Nayak Hospital, adding that special arrangements have been made to look after heat stroke cases.