PMC issues advisory on precautions to avoid heatstroke

The guidelines have cautioned against wearing tight clothes and working in high temperature rooms.

With heat on roads, motorists stop for a break to enjoy a cool glass of sugarcane juice in Pune. (Express Photo By Pavan Khengre)

With rising temperatures in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) health department issued an advisory on Friday on precautions to be taken to avoid heatstroke. Across the state, surveillance reporting will begin from March 15 with a special focus on Vidarbha and Northern Maharashtra. “A strict watch will be kept on districts prone to heatwave,” Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, told The Indian Express.

As maximum temperatures are set to rise to between 36 and 37 degrees Celsius over the next few days, health officials have said that prolonged exposure to higher temperatures causes heatstroke. The guidelines have cautioned against wearing tight clothes and working in high temperature rooms.

Symptoms like tiredness, fever, dry skin, lack of appetite, dizziness, nausea, headache, hypertension, anxiety and unconsciousness should not be neglected, PMC health officials said. The guidelines have advised that an affected person be kept in a ventilated or air-conditioned room, ice packs or cool wet sheets be applied on the patient’s forehead and he/she be kept hydrated.

Use sunglasses, umbrellas, hats, shoes and slippers while going outside a home in the afternoon, and people who work under the sun should use sunglasses or umbrellas and cover their head, neck, and face with wet clothes, Dr Kalpana Baliwant, official spokesperson of the PMC health department, told The Indian Express.

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Regularly drinking ORS, homemade lassi, lemon-water and buttermilk to maintain the water level in the body and keeping the house cool with use of curtains, shutters and sunshades are among the important points in the advisory. Avoid going out in the sun during afternoon from noon to 3.30, the advisory said.

‘All cause mortality needs to be documented’

There is a need to document the cause of all deaths in the summer season to check if there is heat-related excess mortality, an expert committee of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said.

With summer approaching, committee members of the NDMA held a meeting with state-level disaster management authorities on Friday to review preparedness and implement heat action plans.

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Professor Dileep Mavalankar, who has been heading the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar and is one of the expert committee members of NDMA, said, “There are reports that the summer is likely to be severe in some states and so, a monthly review meeting has been held where states were told to implement heat action plans. All cause mortality needs to be documented. For instance, elderly people who die at home are not necessarily classified as heat wave-related deaths – but they can develop indirect heat stroke and can succumb two to three days later. So, causes of all deaths should be monitored and compared with weekly data.”

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues . Professional Background Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature. Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO. Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives. Awards and Recognition Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.” Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) 1. Cancer & Specialized Medical Care "Tata Memorial finds way to kill drug-resistant cancer cells" (Nov 26, 2025): Reporting on a breakthrough for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Discipline, diet and purpose; How a 97-year-old professor defies ageing'' (Nov 15, 2025) Report about Prof Gururaj Mutalik, the first Head of Department at Pune's B J Government Medical College who at 97 credits his longevity to healthy habits and a strong sense of purpose. 2. Environmental Health (The "Breathless Pune" Series) Long-term exposure even to 'moderate' air leads to chronic heart, lung, kidney issues" (Nov 26, 2025): Part of an investigative series highlighting that even "safe" pollution levels are damaging to vital organs. "For every 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 level, there was 6-8% jump in medicine sales" (Nov 23, 2025): Using commercial data to prove the direct link between air quality and respiratory illnesses in Pune. 3. Lifestyle & Wellness News "They didn't let cancer, diabetes and heart disease stop them from travelling" (Dec 22, 2025): A collaborative piece featuring survivors who share practical tips for traveling with chronic conditions. At 17, his BP shot up to 200/120 mmHG; Lancet study flags why child and teen hypertension doubled between 2000 and 2020'' (Nov 12,2025)--A report that focusses on 17-year-old-boy's hypertensive crisis and reflects the rising global trend of high blood pressure among children and adolescents. 4. Scientific Recognition & Infrastructure For promoting sci-comm, gender diversity: IUCAA woman prof highlighted in Nature" (Nov 25, 2025): Covering the global recognition of Indian women scientists in gender studies and physics. Pune researchers find a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way from early universe'' (December 3, 2025)- A report on how Indian researchers discovered a massive galaxy that existed when the universe was just 1.5 billion years old , one of the earliest to have been observed so far. Signature Beat: Health, Science & Women in Leadership Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions. ... Read More

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