The Union health ministry on Tuesday asked all states to start daily surveillance of heat-related illnesses from March 1 as part of a nationwide programme that will also issue public health advisories asking people to protect themselves from extreme heat.

The ministry, in a note sent to all states, has said district authorities should “promptly disseminate” to local health facilities any daily heat alerts that might emerge from the National Programme for Climate Change and Human Health.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said “above normal maximum temperatures” are likely over most parts of northeast India, east, and central India and parts of northwest India during the hot season from March to May.

“Monthly maximum temperatures for March 2023 are likely to be above normal over most parts of the country except peninsular India (the southern states) where normal to below normal maximums are likely,” the IMD said in its hot season forecast also released on Tuesday.

The health ministry has asked state health departments to enhance the capacities of medical staff and health facilities to manage heat-related illnesses and use a public health advisory template that outlines “dos and don’ts” for people to protect themselves during heat waves.

The health facilities will be expected to maintain line lists of cases and deaths from any heat-related illnesses that will be uploaded on a national disease surveillance database called the Integrated Health Information Portal.

Climate studies have suggested that heat wave duration over India is expected to increase by four to seven days per decade. A nationwide disease surveillance programme that has compiled heat-related illness data since 2015 has catalogued 3,775 deaths from heat-related illnesses from 2015 to 2019.

The IMD defines a heat wave as a period when the temperature’s departure from normal ranges between 4.5°C to 6.4°C, while a rise of over 6.4°C above normal is a severe heat wave.