UP: Ballia District Hospital, The Death Toll Now Stands At 68 Patients

On Monday, eleven more patients who had been admitted to the Ballia district hospital in Uttar Pradesh passed away from various illnesses, bringing the total number of fatalities in the previous five days to 68.

A health department committee that was sent to the district on Sunday from Lucknow to determine the cause of deaths conducted a district-wide inspection on Monday.

The deaths occur as the area is experiencing a heatwave. But according to Dr. Jayant Kumar, the CMO for Ballia, only two people in the district have passed away from heat stroke as of Sunday.

The Bansdih area of the district, where the majority of the patients who died had arrived at the hospital, was visited by the two-person committee, which was made up of Director (Communicable Diseases) Dr. A K Singh and Director (Medical Care) K N Tiwari.

The two officials also held fresh inspection of the district hospital. “The arrangements at the hospital have improved. Five more air coolers have been installed in the wards,” said Tiwari.

“It could also be a coincidence,” Tiwari said in response to a question about the sudden increase in fatalities. “Most of them were elderly patients with pre-existing ailments.”

The director of medical care, however, disputed that heat stroke was to blame for the deaths.

“We are looking into all aspects to identify if there is any underlying common cause behind these deaths. Samples are being collected from patients and examination is underway,” he told reporters here.

The district hospital reports on average about eight deaths per day, according to the health officials.

Meanwhile, CMO Kumar said a total of 178 new patients were admitted to the hospital in the last 24 hours, of which 11 have died. “Those who died were suffering from various ailments,” he said.

The CMO stated that the best possible plans were put in place for the patients admitted to the hospital but declined to comment on the cause of death.

“On the direction of senior officials, we have increased the number of air coolers and fans in the hospital,” the CMO said, adding the hospital administration has also increased the number of beds to 276 from 200 to accommodate new patients.

Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of the district hospital S K Yadav said that the number of patients admitted in the hospital has gone over 400. “We are also experiencing a rise in patients in the out-patient department (OPD). About 1,500 to 1,800 patients are visiting the OPD daily as against around 1,000 to 1,200 earlier,” said the CMS

Aside from the district hospital, the number of patients in the district’s community and primary health centres has grown recently, according to the health officials.

Ballia is suffering from the hot weather, as is the entire central and eastern UP. The maximum temperature in Ballia was 43.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday, six degrees above average, according to the India Meteorological Department.

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