Sunstroke: Children worst hit

Nalgonda: Increased temperatures and heat waves for the last ten days are creating hardships to people from all walks of life in the district. Unfortunately, children are becoming victims of the sunstroke. On Sunday, the death of a five-month-old infant, Moksha in Alagadapa village due to sunstroke reflects the intensity of the summer heat and the miserable plight of the children in the district.

According to official figures, on an average, around 20 to 30 children aged between 0 to 14 years are coming to both government and private hospitals for treatment with sunstroke related complaints. On the whole, about 3000 children across the district are coming to various hospitals with cases of dehydration, fever, diarrhea and vomiting every day.

After conducting medical tests, a number of children are undergoing in-patient treatment for 4 to 5 days to regain normal health. While the reports on the status of infants are not available, they are getting high fever with the heat waves continuing till 10 PM in the night. Mothers are finding it difficult to control the crying children affected with sunstrokes.

Doctors are injecting fluids to small kids also in order to control their disorders. Almost all the children’s wards in government and private hospitals across the district are full with sun-stroke affected cases. A total of 72 primary health centers, 565 sub-centers, seven community health centers, seven area hospitals, one district headquarters hospital and around 350 private hospitals are catering to the health needs of the public in the district.

A neo-natal wing doctor Srinivas Rao and a noted pediatrician Jella Daivadheenam working in a government hospital in the district advised parents to take care of their children till the end of summer. They said children should be discouraged from playing outside. They said that if the children consume more water, drink coconut water, fruit juices, lemon water mixed with salt, the ORS water could improve the immunity system and prevent sunstrokes. They also advised them not to undertake long journeys during daytime.