Heat-Resilient Healthcare

The India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future conference spotlighted extreme heat as an emerging public health emergency. Despite the early arrival of the monsoon, many regions in India faced record-breaking summer temperatures, worsening public health outcomes. The event emphasized transitioning from a reactive to a preventive, equity-based healthcare model to effectively tackle the growing burden of heat-induced illnesses.

Impact of Extreme Heat on Public Health

• Heat as a Health Multiplier: Rising temperatures contribute significantly to heatstroke, dehydration, and exacerbation of chronic conditions like cardiovascular and renal disorders, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
• Reactive Health Model is Inadequate: India’s current health infrastructure responds primarily with emergency interventions (IV fluids, hospital care) instead of proactive strategies, resulting in unsustainable and inefficient outcomes during recurrent heatwaves.
• Equity Gap in Health Burden: Populations such as daily wage workers, elderly in slums, and street vendors bear the brunt of heat exposure, underlining the social justice dimension of climate-induced health crises.

Strengthening Primary and Clinical Health Systems

• Primary Health as a Heat-First Responder: ASHAs and other community health workers can be equipped with early warning training and hydration protocols to deliver localized heat-prevention strategies, especially in rural and low-income urban settings.
• Integration of Meteorological Alerts: Forecast-based planning—such as door-to-door wellness checks, hydration kit distribution, and WhatsApp heat alerts—can enable early response, as demonstrated by the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan.
• Updating Clinical Protocols for Heat Illnesses: India's healthcare must adopt standardized screening and treatment protocols for heatstroke and related ailments; heat-readiness drills and cooling kits in hospitals can increase resilience.

Interdisciplinary and Equitable Solutions for Heat Resilience

• Cross-Sectoral Coordination is Critical: Effective solutions require urban planners, climate scientists, water departments, and labour ministries to work in tandem for integrated and scalable interventions, like cool roofs or rest schedules.
• Equity-Driven Adaptations: Initiatives like mobile hydration stations, misting shelters in slums, and subsidized cooling centers must prioritize those most exposed to heat—daily wage earners, informal sector workers, and school children.
• From Centres to Networks of Excellence: India must evolve from isolated pilot projects to a national framework of interdisciplinary climate-health response teams, incorporating both technical knowledge and grassroots insights.

Practice Question:

Q. “Extreme heat is not merely an environmental issue, but a social and public health emergency.” In light of this statement, critically examine India’s preparedness for heatwaves. Suggest policy-level and structural measures to enhance heat-health resilience, particularly for vulnerable communities.