PESHAWAR:Director Public Health Department (DGHS KP), Dr. Naik Dad Afridi on Sunday said that Special Heatwave Wards having capacity of 914 beds had been setup in 159 hospitals of the province to provide free and timely treatment to patients suffering from heat related illness and heatstroke.
Talking to reporter, he said that Heatwave Wards were setup in district hospitals, category D and C hospitals where specialist doctors and medicines had been provided to provide free treatment to patients.
He said that presently, southern districts Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu were in grip of extreme heatwave, adding heatstroke cases were also reported from central districts of Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera.
He advised the people to take precautionary measures to extreme temperature and consume lemon and salt mix water to avoid dehydration and sugar patients must consult doctors, adding that individuals over the age of 60 years were consistently the most vulnerable population groups, risks for heat-related illness are compounded for people with obesity, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and diabetes mellitus.
Dr, Naik Dad Afridi said that rising temperature decrease the body’s ability to adopt the change in environment condition as heat was intense this year which might increase the number of patients. He said vital human body organs might stop working after significant drop of water and minerals in fever due to heat related illness.
He said that awareness campaign had been started to guide people taking precautionary measures in heatwave.