Hot weather brings wave of health problems (3)

（China Daily）  08:31, July 05, 2013  

Shanghai expects to see about 22 to 27 high-temperature days — which are defined as having temperatures over 35 C — this summer. Only four days with temperatures higher than 35 C have been recorded thus far, including Wednesday.

The mercury hit 38 C on Tuesday in Shanghai, the highest daily temperature recorded so far in Shanghai this year. An orange alert, the second of the three-level color system, was issued that day. Yellow and red are the other color codes, with red being for temperatures that soar beyond 40 C.

Street sweeping has been canceled from 11 am to 2 pm to guarantee the city's 50,000-plus sanitation workers' safety under the sun, said the city's environmental protection authority.

The city's 240 ambulances, which are on day and night shifts, are dispatched more than 1,000 times on an ordinary summer day.

"It's higher at peak times," said Li Minghua, a 35-year-old doctor who works as the trainer for Shanghai Medical Emergency Center. "An ambulance doctor will be sent out at least 12 times during a 12-hour shift.

"The work leaves us totally stressed out, and many develop back or knee injuries from lifting and carrying patients."