Around 12 lakh have been on the yatra so far in 2022. In comparison, 32 lakh pilgrims attended the pilgrimage in 2019 and 26 lakh in 2018.
Most deaths this year have been attributed to cardiac arrests at the shrine towns, situated at altitudes ranging between 10,000 ft and 12,000 ft. However, doctors and experts looking for reasons behind this sharp jump said Covid — or its lingering after-effects — could be a possible factor.
“Almost 95% of the deaths and health emergencies that we are seeing at Kedarnath this time can directly or indirectly be attributed to Covid. We are saying so based on details provided by their kin to us,” said Dr Pradeep Bhardwaj, president, Six Sigma Healthcare. In 2013, his agency had been assigned by the state government to “take care” of pilgrims at the Kedarnath shrine. They have been at it since then. Kedarnath has seen 52 deaths in a span of barely 24 days.
Dr BK Shukla, CMO of Rudraprayag, said, “Some people may have been asymptomatic and probably unaware of their Covid infection. Our teams are contacting their families to take a proper note of their medical history.” A history of Covid makes people more vulnerable to cardiac issues, experts said.
Ajay Semalty, listed by Stanford University as one of the world’s top scientists of pharmacy and pharmacology, told TOI, “Global data does indicate a correlation between increased deaths due to cardiac arrests and Covid. In Italy, data suggested a significant positive association between the spread of Covid and the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. The risk becomes more at higher altitudes. Further, lack of oxygen, chilly weather, and exertion precipitate it.”
He added, “If a person has Covid, his lungs and heart have already been affected by the infection. Thermoregulation increases the heart’s job manifold, thus leading to deaths,”
Experts said that the need of the hour was to have metadata to establish the root cause. “In India, we do not have a system of keeping track of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. However, this must be done. Metadata (detailed findings of probable reasons of death) helps us conduct an in-depth study, taking into account post-mortem findings and medical history,” Semalty said.
Health authorities at Kedarnath, which has seen most deaths compared to the other three Char Dham shrines of Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri, have started the exercise of contacting families for more information. “Our staff is getting a lukewarm response because of reasons ranging from the shock of death to maintaining privacy,” said CMO Shukla.
“However, unless metadata is collated, the rise in deaths cannot be properly attributed to a single cause,” another doctor said. He added: “We still consider this an alarming situation. The responsible factor is most certainly Covid, we feel.”
A worried state government has announced a slew of advisories and steps to curb pilgrim numbers, but to no avail. “From asking pilgrims to get a mandatory health check-up before commencing the yatra to turning some of them away, we have tried everything,” an administration official said. “But the numbers are overwhelming.”
Now, the government has stationed 112 ambulances on the yatra route. Additionally, a helicopter service to airlift patients in case of an emergency to AIIMS-Rishikesh has also been set up. Twenty-five specialists, besides general medical duty officers, staff nurses, and paramedics, are there on the yatra route. Ayurvedic doctors have also been roped in, said DG (health) Dr Shailja Bhatt.
