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Orissa govt orders probe into heat wave deaths

The Orissa government has directed Cuttack's C B Medical College and Hospital to conduct a special study on the killer heat wave that claimed 1,200 lives in the state.

The report, to be prepared by a team of senior doctors headed by Professor Nihar Ranjan Handa of the medical college, is to suggest measures to effectively deal with the problem in future, besides finding why so many died of sunstroke this summer, sources said.

Preparing the report on the basis of medical reports of the heat stroke patients admitted to hospital, the team is to submit its final report to the government within a month.

Medical college superintendent Dr Raghunath Das said there was some delay in the diagnosis. ''Earlier, they (the doctors) could not immediately identify whether the patients were suffering from heat wave or cerebral malaria,'' he said.

Official reports show that Cuttack reported 235 deaths so far in the season -- the highest toll from among the heat wave-hit districts in the country.

UNI

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