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Tunisia Doctors Demand Health Emergency as Heat Wave Deaths Mount
(MENAFN) Multiple deaths have been reported inside Tunisian hospitals as a punishing heat wave grips the country this summer, an independent doctors' group said Saturday, urging officials to declare a "health emergency."
In a statement, the Tunisian Organization of Young Doctors said emergency rooms nationwide have seen an "unprecedented increase" in fatalities and admissions tied to heatstroke and extreme temperatures, with some patients dying inside the emergency departments themselves.
The group said emergency room doctors and nurses are enduring "extreme exhaustion under pressure exceeding the capacity of the health system."
While Health Ministry departments have reportedly compiled internal data on deaths, heatstroke cases and intensive-care bed availability, the organization said no official figures have been released, and it renewed its call for the "immediate declaration of a health emergency."
Wajih Dhakkar, the organization's head, wrote on Facebook Friday evening that his group had documented 13 deaths within a single 24-hour span at Habib Bourguiba Hospital in the eastern city of Sfax. Tunisian authorities have not yet published official mortality figures linked to the heat wave.
The extreme heat has blanketed most of the country since Wednesday. In the central city of Kairouan, temperatures climbed to 49.8°C (121.6°F) — making it the second-hottest location on Earth, trailing only Mehran, Iran, which hit 50°C (122°F), according to the Tunisian Observatory of Weather and Climate. The observatory reported that six Tunisian cities ranked among the world's 20 hottest monitoring stations: Kairouan, Beja, Jendouba, Gabes, Tozeur and Zaghouan.
Compounding the crisis, the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas has imposed rolling power cuts in several regions, saying the outages are needed to protect the stability and safety of the electrical grid.
Tunisian President Kais Saied said Thursday that extended water and power outages — which in some areas, including the capital Tunis, have stretched beyond 10 hours — "cannot be considered merely passing events or isolated cases."
In a statement, the Tunisian Organization of Young Doctors said emergency rooms nationwide have seen an "unprecedented increase" in fatalities and admissions tied to heatstroke and extreme temperatures, with some patients dying inside the emergency departments themselves.
The group said emergency room doctors and nurses are enduring "extreme exhaustion under pressure exceeding the capacity of the health system."
While Health Ministry departments have reportedly compiled internal data on deaths, heatstroke cases and intensive-care bed availability, the organization said no official figures have been released, and it renewed its call for the "immediate declaration of a health emergency."
Wajih Dhakkar, the organization's head, wrote on Facebook Friday evening that his group had documented 13 deaths within a single 24-hour span at Habib Bourguiba Hospital in the eastern city of Sfax. Tunisian authorities have not yet published official mortality figures linked to the heat wave.
The extreme heat has blanketed most of the country since Wednesday. In the central city of Kairouan, temperatures climbed to 49.8°C (121.6°F) — making it the second-hottest location on Earth, trailing only Mehran, Iran, which hit 50°C (122°F), according to the Tunisian Observatory of Weather and Climate. The observatory reported that six Tunisian cities ranked among the world's 20 hottest monitoring stations: Kairouan, Beja, Jendouba, Gabes, Tozeur and Zaghouan.
Compounding the crisis, the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas has imposed rolling power cuts in several regions, saying the outages are needed to protect the stability and safety of the electrical grid.
Tunisian President Kais Saied said Thursday that extended water and power outages — which in some areas, including the capital Tunis, have stretched beyond 10 hours — "cannot be considered merely passing events or isolated cases."
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