India Is Boiling: 2025 Heatwave Sparks Health Emergency Across States

📅 By News Anek Digital Desk | June 19, 2025

“Garmi se zyada darr ab loo se lagta hai.”(It’s not the heat anymore—it’s the deadly hot winds.)

India is in the grip of one of the most severe heatwaves in recorded history, with temperatures soaring past 48°C in multiple states and a dangerous rise in heatstroke-related deaths and hospitalizations.

From Rajasthan to Bihar, Delhi to Odisha, the blistering temperatures have turned cities into furnaces, strained health systems, disrupted daily life, and exposed the deadly cost of climate change in real time.

This isn’t just a weather story. It’s a national health emergency.

🌡️ Heatwave 2025: How Bad Is It?

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC):

State	Max Temp (June 2025)	Heatstroke Cases	Deaths (Reported)
Rajasthan (Phalodi)	49.4°C	8,000+	112
Bihar (Patna)	47.2°C	5,200+	87
Delhi-NCR	47.0°C	2,700+	56
Odisha	46.1°C	1,800+	35

In total, over 17,000 heatstroke cases have been reported across 9 states with nearly 300 confirmed deaths—a figure experts say could be severely underreported due to lack of surveillance in rural areas.

🏥 Hospitals Under Siege

Doctors describe scenes that resemble war zones:

• ICUs packed with unconscious patients suffering from dehydration, multiple organ failure, or brain swelling.

• Hospitals running out of IV fluids, cold packs, and AC beds.

• Ambulances parked outside hospitals as waitlists grow.

“We are treating heatstroke like trauma cases. Patients are collapsing on the streets, in buses, even during weddings,” said a senior physician at AIIMS-Patna.

🔥 What Is a Heatstroke?

Heatstroke is the most severe form of heat-related illness, occurring when the body’s temperature regulation fails. It can lead to:

• Brain damage

• Kidney or liver failure

• Seizures

• Death (within hours if untreated)

Symptoms include:

• Profuse sweating → sudden stoppage of sweating

• Hot, dry skin

• Confusion, disorientation

• Rapid pulse

• Fainting or seizures

Children, the elderly, and outdoor workers are most vulnerable.

🌍 Why Is This Happening?

1. Climate Crisis

IMD and UNEP confirm: 2025 is on track to be India’s hottest year ever, breaking the 2016 record.

• Urban heat islands in cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow trap heat overnight.

• Forests are being replaced by concrete.

• Air conditioning use rises → further carbon emissions → vicious cycle.

2. El Niño Effect

This year’s intense El Niño has altered wind patterns and delayed monsoons, reducing pre-monsoon showers across north and central India.

3. Poor Urban Planning

India’s cities lack:

• Green cover

• Heat-reflective roofing

• Shaded public spaces

Add traffic fumes, construction dust, and power outages—and the cities trap heat like pressure cookers.

👨‍🌾 Who Is Suffering the Most?

👷 Daily Wage Laborers

• Brick kiln workers, construction workers, and rickshaw pullers are working in open 45°C+ zones.

• Many skip work = skip wages = hunger or homelessness.

🧓 Elderly and Slum Dwellers

• Tin-roof homes in Delhi slums hit 50°C inside at noon.

• No fans, no AC, and poor ventilation = heat prisons.

👩‍👧 Women and Children

• Water scarcity forces long walks under harsh sun.

• Heat worsens pregnancy complications and child dehydration.

🛑 Government Response So Far

✅ Emergency Guidelines:

• Heatstroke wards set up in major hospitals

• Red and orange alerts issued by IMD

• Schools closed early in UP, Bihar, and MP

✅ Free Water Campaigns:

• “Jal Jeevan Kendras” set up in high-footfall zones

• NGOs distribute ORS and glucose sachets in rural Bihar and Delhi slums

✅ Law Interventions:

• Some states (like Rajasthan) banned midday outdoor labor between 12–4 PM

• Delhi High Court directed urgent heat mitigation plans by MCD

But ground reports suggest these are too little, too late.

💬 News Anek Expert View: India Needs a Heat Code Now

“Just like we have a monsoon calendar, we now need a national heat code—because heatwaves are no longer rare events. They’re recurring disasters.”

What we urgently need:

1. Heat Action Plans (HAPs) in all districts

2. Real-time public alert systems via SMS and radio

3. Urban cooling zones in markets, metro stations, bus stops

4. Heat insurance for outdoor workers

5. Decentralized ORS and water distribution via local bodies

   
   

🧠 What You Can Do to Stay Safe

DO:

• Drink water every 30 minutes—even if not thirsty

• Use ORS or lemon-salt water regularly

• Stay in shade or indoors between 12 PM–4 PM

• Wear light cotton clothes and a wide hat

DON'T:

• Drink tea, coffee, alcohol during peak hours

• Leave children or pets inside parked vehicles

• Exercise outdoors in direct sun

• Ignore symptoms like dizziness, confusion, or muscle cramps

📊 Summary Snapshot

Factor	Detail
Peak Temp	49.4°C (Phalodi, Rajasthan)
Worst-Hit States	Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, Odisha, UP
Heatstroke Cases	17,000+ (as of mid-June)
Reported Deaths	~300+
At-Risk Groups	Elderly, kids, outdoor laborers
Key Drivers	Climate change, El Niño, poor urban design

📢 Final Word from News Anek

India’s heatwave is no longer a seasonal problem. It’s a systemic crisis that combines poor planning, climate apathy, and neglect of the vulnerable.

If we don’t treat heat as a disaster, it will become a silent epidemic—creeping into our cities, our homes, our lungs.

The sun should rise for India—not roast it alive.