Ahead of civic elections, NGOs release ideal public health manifesto

A real-time data system for the number of deaths, cause of deaths and prevalent diseases in the city, strengthening primary healthcare part of the NGOs’ public health manifesto

Mumbai A real-time data system for the number of deaths, cause of deaths and prevalent diseases in the city, strengthening primary healthcare by increasing the number of dispensaries and their timings, third-party audits of the healthcare sector for better accountability are some of the points that an ideal Mumbai public health manifesto must contain, according to non-profits Mumbai First and Praja Foundation.

The two organisations released their ideal manifesto on Wednesday, ahead of the civic elections in 2022. (HT PHOTO)

The two organisations released their ideal manifesto on Wednesday, ahead of the civic elections in 2022. Researchers across the country, including Mumbai, have highlighted the need for real-time, granular data during the pandemic in order to understand the issues correctly and draft effective policies.

“The Registration of Births and Deaths Act calls for real-time data on causes of deaths. But if we look at Mumbai, the data that is available is for 2019, even as we are a few days away from entering 2022,” said Dr Neville Mehta, chief executive officer of Mumbai First. “How will we know what’s ailing Mumbaikars if we don’t have the current data,” he said.

The manifesto, prepared in consultation with nearly 20 NGOs that work in Mumbai, highlights that that city has only 199 dispensaries, even as the ideal number would be 858 given the city’s population. Of these, only 15 dispensaries remain open for 14 hours, which all the others shut at 4 pm.

The manifesto calls for private health data to be made available to the government for planning purposes, streamlining of duplication of data between various cells of the civic body such as tuberculosis cell, epidemiology cell, ward data etc.

“The manifesto also recommends the incorporation of an outcome-based budget to ensure targeted development and increase in access to the primary healthcare sector of the city”, said Yogesh Mishra, research and data head, Praja Foundation. “In terms of health policies and their implementation, Mumbai needs to put in extra effort to meet its sustainable development goals for many communicable and non-communicable diseases,” he said.

The NGOs plan to reach out to political parties, bureaucrats, and other authorities to promote and endorse the manifesto.

BOX

Ideal Mumbai public health manifesto should contain:

-Budget focused on strengthening primary healthcare

-Third-party audits of the city’s healthcare sector

-Increase the number of dispensaries in the city

-Dispensaries should remain open till 10 pm

-Real-time data on the number of deaths, cause of deaths should be made available

- Data on all prevalent diseases should be maintained and analysed on a real-time basis