Delhi: 1 patient admitted to RML Hospital for heat stroke now stable, another remains critical

One patient admitted to the RML Hospital for suspected heat stroke has shown improvement, while the other remains critical, amidst a severe heatwave in the national capital.

The condition of one of the two patients admitted to the RML Hospital over suspected heat stroke has improved while the other remains critical, hospital authorities said on Friday .

The national capital is under the grip of a spell of heatwave conditions, with Thursday recorded as the warmest May night in nearly 14 years.

Both patients were brought to the hospital on Thursday in an unconscious state with extremely high body temperatures and were immediately put on ventilator support and immersion cooling therapy.

The younger patient, a 24-year-old student from West Bengal, was admitted around 1.45 am after falling ill while travelling on a train, doctors said.

''He was travelling in a train and was suffering from vomiting, tiredness and loose motions. He was brought to the hospital by attendants in a state of unconsciousness. We immediately put him in ice water and tried to cool him down,'' Dr Ajay Chauhan, Director Professor of Medicine at the hospital, said on Thursday.

Doctors instituted immersion cooling therapy and later shifted him to the medical ward, where he continues to remain under intensive medical management.

The patient had symptoms including vomiting, loose motions, altered sensorium, faecal incontinence and extremely high body temperature. ''The 24-year-old patient is still critical,'' he said in an update on Friday.

The second patient, a man aged around 50 years, was brought to the hospital by police at around 10.45 am on Thursday in an unconscious state with very high body temperature. He was immediately intubated and placed on ventilator support and ice-cold water immersion cooling was also started, hospital authorities said.

Giving an update on his health on Friday, Chauhan said, ''The patient is now stable and conscious, though he remains disoriented.''.

Doctors at the hospital urged residents to remain cautious amid the severe heatwave and advised people to stay hydrated, consume fluids containing salts, avoid direct exposure to the sun and move to shaded areas while doing outdoor physical work.