Climate Talk

Night shifts in a hot ward: heat is a health issue for staff too

I work nights in a government hospital in north India. In May and June the ward temperature at 2am was often above 32C inside. Fans only, patients' families sleeping on the floor between beds.

People talk about heat and patients (correctly, elderly and kidney patients suffer most), but nobody measures what it does to staff. After 12 hours in that heat, I notice I make slower calculations for drip rates. I double-check everything now. Some colleagues get headaches every shift, classic mild dehydration.

Simple things helped: ORS sachets at the nursing station, one cooled rest room, shift handover moved earlier. Cheap fixes. But they only happened after two staff fainted.

Do hospitals in your countries have rules for maximum indoor temperature for workers? I am curious if anyone has a standard for this.