Kasturba to get first infectious disease surveillance unit

In case of any rise in cases of suspected infectious diseases, the unit will alert the government for an immediate action plan.

Mumbai: After the Covid-19 pandemic and measles outbreak in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to set up a surveillance unit to monitor infectious diseases at Kasturba Hospital, Chinchpokli. The civic body said that the unit will work closely with infectious diseases experts and laboratories in the city.

The unit will work to strengthen surveillance by establishing linkages with private and public health facilities through an integrated health information platform (IHIP), Dr Sanjeev Kumar, additional municipal commissioner, BMC said, adding, “In the last few years, the city has seen swine flu, Covid-19 and measles.” (HT PHOTO)

In case of any rise in cases of suspected infectious diseases, the unit will alert the government for an immediate action plan. A proposal for the same has been submitted to the Centre.

The unit will work to strengthen surveillance by establishing linkages with private and public health facilities through an integrated health information platform (IHIP), Dr Sanjeev Kumar, additional municipal commissioner, BMC said, adding, “In the last few years, the city has seen swine flu, Covid-19 and measles.”

“We have felt the urgent need to strengthen the surveillance and monitoring of communicable diseases in Mumbai. Through the proposed unit, we will establish a strong linkage with private and public health facilities and also public health laboratories,” he said.

Dr Kumar added that the unit will be working on data reporting and analysis. “Data plays a key role in monitoring communicable diseases. We will be providing training for data reporting on IHIP. The unit will be conducting real-time data analysis and forecasting,” he said.

A BMC health official said the unit will be set up in Ward 11 of the Kasturba Hospital and got its approval from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

It will be equipped with modern laboratory facilities and will have epidemiologists, microbiologists, virologists, and entomologists who will also be testing relevant samples for water-borne, food-borne and zoonotic diseases.

Calling it a way to go forward, Dr Vasant Nagvekar, infectious disease expert and state Covid-19 task force member said, “It will be good to have a surveillance unit to alert us if there is a virus in circulation which will help in better management of patients.”

Dr Amitav Banerjee, epidemiologist and head of community medicine, Dr DY Patil Medical College, Pune said sentinel surveillance-monitoring of the rate of occurrence of specific diseases/conditions through a voluntary network of doctors, laboratories and public health departments to assess the stability or change in health levels of a population- is important.

“Keeping a check on symptoms in citizens is the starting point of any surveillance. It helps in finding a rise in unusual cases. For example, if there is a rise in fever cases and loose motions and clustering, the health department needs to get alert,” he said.