Deaths reported in Aden due to heat, blackouts

This year Aden experiences severe heat and frequent electricity blackouts to the suffering of its citizens.

While the Aden Health Office records didn’t mention any deaths, citizens reported that two persons died and some others experienced unconsciousness in the last two days due to recent severe heat waves and frequent electricity blackouts.

Dr. Mansour al-Khidir al-Aswar, the Aden Health Office Manager, said that no official death cases were recorded due to heat, yet didn’t rule out that some cases may have occurred which were not reported by the citizens.

Local sources said that a 50-year-old citizen, Ahmed al-Fraikh, died of suffocation due to the heat, while another citizen died in Sheikh Osman city due to the heat and blackout after suffering a fit of hypertension.

Citizens in Khor Maksar, Crater, and Tawahi said that they saw a number of unconsciousness cases this week, most of them women, particularly during afternoon hours.

The Aden Health Office Manager said that they expect an increase in sickness during this period, adding that they have undertaken precautionary measures, especially in public hospitals, such as providing operation rooms and the emergency departments with electric generators in case of blackouts, increasing the amount of oxygen cylinders, as well as the improvement of air conditioning.

Aden governorate is witnessing a considerable rise in temperature accompanied by high humidity since the beginning of this month as well as intermittent blackouts, which citizens say has increased their suffering because they sometimes occur up to 5 times a day.

The hot weather forced some Aden residents, especially the sick, to desert the city and go to live with their relatives in the relatively cooler and temperate areas. The citizens say that the use of air conditioning became unfeasible because of the increase in the cost of electricity.

Aden city witnessed a heat wave two years ago which resulted in the deaths of 24 people, most of them elderly.

According to Doctor Isa Musawa, a cardiologist in Aden said that  those who suffer most from the heat are those suffering from hypertension, diabetes, and adrenal gland conditions because they are affected by changes in the weather and the increase in heat threatens them with complications, possibly resulting in death.

 

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