Residents of a city in the north-west of India have called for government action as temperatures reached 51C (123.8F), the highest the country has experienced since records began.
Phalodi, in the desert state of Rajasthan, is suffering an unprecedented medical crisis as a result of the record temperatures, which are high even by local summer standards and which smashed the previous record, set in 1956, of 50.6C.
"[Thursday] was the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country: 51C in Phalodi," BP Yadav, a director of India's meteorological department, said on Friday.
In Phalodi, where the temperature can fall below zero in winter and reach extreme peaks in the summer, the local government hospital has seen patient numbers double in the last few days as people report more heat-related illnesses.
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Shiv Prakash Chanda, who works as a nursing officer in the hospital, said: "It is incredibly hot. None of the air-conditioners or coolers are working. We have running water, but the water is stored in tanks on top the buildings, and when it comes out of the tap the water is so hot that you can not even wash your hands with it. You can not even go to the toilet. "
Ranjeet Singh, a local police constable, said: "The ground is so hot, you could cook chapatis on it."
One man from the town died from heatstroke on Friday at a nearby railway station. Chanda said the heat was so extreme that the hospital was struggling to meet demand from patients. Children are particularly vulnerable to sunstroke, and the hospital has seen a rise in the number of cases of diarrhoea and vomiting.
"The government needs to do something - they need to put up tents and offer cold water in places like railway stations where people gather. The local administration has done nothing so far, "Chanda said. Last year, more than 1,500 people died in India because of heatwaves.
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Chanda has written a letter to the chief minister of the state urging the government to delay a national polio vaccination programme because of the temperature. "Going door to door in this heat can be fatal," he said. "The vaccines may be spoiled. Plus we need more people in the hospital here because so many people are coming in. "
The heat has disrupted the regular working day in Phalodi, where people say they are afraid to leave their homes. Residents start work at sunrise and come home at about 10am to protect themselves from the midday sun, before returning to work in the evenings.