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Noida: Amid a severe heatwave, the Gautam Buddh Nagar health department here has received at least 75 bodies for post-mortem within a period of three days from June 18-20, according to officials.
Senior health officials of the district said usually the number of bodies received for post-mortem in a day averages around seven or eight and described the fatalities as "unexpected".
The department, however, could not conclusively say if these deaths were directly caused due to the heatwave.
Private hospitals have provided their mortuary freezers to the department to keep dead bodies, according to officials.
"There has been an increase in the number of post-mortem cases and this increase is quite unexpected. Normally, there are 7-8 cases per day. On June 18, we received 28 bodies. On June 19, we received 25 bodies and by the evening of June 20, we had received 22 bodies," Gautam Buddh Nagar's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Suneel Kumar Sharma said.
Of these bodies, he said hospitals had received 20 as "brought dead" and 10 of them were "unidentified".
"We received 10 bodies in hospitals that were brought dead on June 18, eight on June 19 and another two by evening of June 20. Three unidentified bodies were received on June 18, five on June 19 and two by evening of June 20," the CMO said.
In view of the "unexpected" rise in cases, the staff deployment for post-mortem duty has also been increased.
"Usually, we would have six to seven cases during the day and maybe one at night. This was manageable by one doctor. But in the last three days as the number of cases rose, services of three doctors were required," Sharma said.
On the heatwave impact, the CMO said there is no doubt the weather is extreme and it's "not usual heat". "This heat is something else, the content of humidity in the weather has also risen of late. This is painful heat and chances of death increase in it." "The impact of heat is not equal on everybody. Those who are completely healthy can bear it. If you live in rural areas and spend time under trees, maybe then also you can bear the heat," he said.
"But here in cases of construction workers, security personnel, even traffic police and volunteers, they need to use a cap on their head, consume ORS and not stay in the open for long. Such measures can help save lives," the senior doctor added.
To accommodate the increased number of bodies, the Director of the Pediatric Institute, Sector 30, Noida, has granted permission to use their mortuary's eight freezers.
"This addition brings the total number of operational freezers to 14, which can now be used to store bodies for post-mortem," the health department said.
Additionally, Kailash Hospital, Fortis Hospital, and Felix Hospital have also allowed the use of their mortuary freezers, the department said.