Amidst the ongoing heatwave in northern India, bodies in Jaipur’s state-run SMS Hospital continue to pile up alarmingly over the past two weeks. Thus, overshooting the hospital’s capacity.
As a result, it has further fueled fears, that these people could be a victim of heatstroke.
On Sunday, Rajasthan for the first time, confirmed its first heat casualty, whose victim was 40-year-old Moti Singh of Sarana village in Ajmer.
Earlier on Saturday, a granite worker succumbed to its illness when he was working, unfortunately he passed away, when he was on his way to district hospital.
Meanwhile, for many days, the continued to deny any heat deaths, even though, some districts experienced temperatures soaring up to 50 degrees Celsius, leading to reports of fatalities and severe illnesses.
At the SMS hospital mortuary, which has a capacity of 40, the number of bodies related to heat deaths has nearly doubled from 22 to 42 as of May 10, highlighting the severity of the crisis.
Officials report that half of these individuals were unidentified and were discovered on the streets by the police.
As a result, Hospital staff are facing mounting difficulties in managing the increasing number of bodies due to space constraints.
According to officials, the rise in unidentified bodies could potentially be linked to heat-wave deaths, but they cannot officially classify them as such due to the stringent guidelines in place for determining such fatalities.