KARACHI, May 20: The city sizzled on Monday as the temperature rose to a sweltering 43.3 degrees Centigrade.

The regional director of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Arif Mahmood, said that Monday was the hottest day of the month during the ongoing heatwave.

“The city witnessed the hottest day ever when the temperature rose to 48 degrees Centigrade on May 9, 1938. In the month of April, the highest temperature recorded is 44 degrees and in the month of June, the highest temperature recorded is 47 degrees Centigrade,” he added.

Explaining why the sharp rise in temperature is accompanied by dusty winds, he said Karachi had been receiving winds from the North-west region which was mostly desert: “That is why the wind is not only very hot, but also contains a comparatively high proportion of dust.”

Mr Mahmood, however, hoped that Wednesday would register a drop in temperature, with the mercury falling to 38 degrees Centigrade, while the high temperature would also continue on Tuesday.

Prof Dr Syed Naseeruddin, vice-principal of the Sindh Medical College, said that in most cases, electrolytic imbalance in the human body caused heatstroke. “In plain English, a shortage of water and salt in the body causes fever. People should increase their water and salt intake. However, those who are hypertensive — in common parlance known as blood pressure —should not increase their salt intake. Normally, a person should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water, but these days people should drink 12-16 glasses,” he said.

He said that it was advisable to drink water with salt before going out in the heat: “Salt tends to retain water and in this way, a person does not lose as much water as he would if he had not used salt at all.”

He said that the reason why a large number of diseases break out in summer is that all manner of infection-carriers, such as cockroaches and mosquitoes come out. “These infection-carriers are also instrumental in spreading all types of diseases, such as diarrhoea, throat infection, stomach aches, etc.”

Dr Naseeruddin said clothing was also of great importance. “It is common knowledge that black absorbs heat. People should not, therefore, wear dark clothes.”

Meanwhile, parents of school and college-going children called the Dawn office to express dismay over the Sindh government decision under which summer vacations would start on June 15 this year. “It stands to reason that the government is trying to curtail the time wasted in summer vacations, but it is not advisable to make students go to schools and colleges in the sweltering heat these days. There have been cases of students suffering from nosebleeds after staying outside in the sun too long during recess or otherwise. The government should have started the summer vacations on May 15, so that they come to an end by July 15,” they stated.

An ice-seller in Federal B. Area, Block 18, told Dawn that there has been a surge in the demand for ice in the locality. “Shopkeepers make sharbat in their shops to beat the heat. Households also use more ice. I wish I had made arrangements for more ice today,” he said.