Bihar Hospital Overflows With Heatwave-Hit, Doctor Says "Situation Pitiful"

At least 25 deaths in one day, wailing relatives and overcrowded wards with patients being laid out on stretchers on the floor - a hospital in Bihar's Bhojpur is laying bare the human tragedy of the heatwave that is sweeping many states in the country, leaving corpses in its wake. 

When you add a doctor complaining of a lack of staff and a deficit of support from the management to the mix, his assessment of the situation - which he dubs "pitiful" - begins to ring painfully true.  

In the past five days, the Ara Sadar Hospital in Bihar's Bhojpur district has seen 50 deaths because of the heatwave. And, with the searing heat showing no signs of letting up, many more people are being brought in, stretching the hospital's resources. 

A video from the hospital shows a relative desperately rubbing the feet of a patient, who appears to be unconscious and is seen lying on a stretcher in a crowded area of a hospital. In another video, four staffers can be seen carrying a man into the hospital - not on a stretcher but by holding his limbs, with his body hanging limply between them. 

Other videos show a woman passed out from grief while another woman, with an infant in her arms, wails and attempts to console her. And, in other parts of the hospital, relatives of patients can be seen crowding around a doctor, desperately seeking updates on their loved ones. 

In one of the videos, a doctor from the hospital, identified only as Dr Ashutosh, can be heard pleading for help on a call with someone from the administration. "We don't have enough staff, sir. Please help arrange for more oxygen cylinders. All the points already have cylinders being used by patients. Nobody is answering the phone. Bahut dayneey sthiti hai sir (the situation is pitiful, sir)," the doctor says in Hindi

When he was asked questions after the call, Dr Ashutosh said, "It's ok. Arrangements are being made."

Another doctor, Dr Rishi, said, "35 patients were brought in because of heatstroke and about 25 have died today. Most of the patients who have died were elderly and had high-grade fever and heatstroke symptoms."

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted severe to very severe heatwave conditions in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, among others.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a high-level meeting today to review the country's preparedness and said a five-member team, comprising senior officials from the Health Ministry and IMD, will visit states worst-affected by heatwave conditions.