Maharashtra’s climate-health programme hit as ARI data goes unreported

Under the NPCCHH, the state public health department has appointed officers and civil surgeons as nodal officers for all districts and identified 17 hospitals as sentinel medical centres for acute respiratory illnesses surveillance in 15 cities

The National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) has taken a backstep in Maharashtra with several medical colleges failing to share health data with the state government. The data is crucial to understand changing disease patterns, identify early signs of outbreaks and plan timely public health interventions, said officials on Monday.

According to officials, the objective of the programme is to create awareness regarding impacts of climate change on human health and strengthen the capacity of the healthcare system to reduce illnesses and diseases due to variability in climate. (FILE)

Under the NPCCHH, the state public health department has appointed officers and civil surgeons as nodal officers for all districts and identified 17 hospitals (medical colleges and district hospitals) as sentinel medical centres for acute respiratory illnesses surveillance in 15 cities. However, since June 2025, five medical colleges — Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Akola — have not shared data. While Kolhapur and Akola shared ARI case details for a few months of the year, rest are yet to give details for 2025.

Nitin Renuse, head, NPCCHH programme, said, “A circular was sent a few months back to these centres to give data to be updated on the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP). Will issue a fresh circular soon.”

According to officials, the objective of the programme is to create awareness regarding impacts of climate change on human health and strengthen the capacity of the healthcare system to reduce illnesses and diseases due to variability in climate.

Dr Raju Sule, state surveillance officer, Maharashtra, said, “Regular ARI monitoring helps health authorities detect early spikes in illness, identify new or changing disease patterns, and issue timely alerts before outbreaks escalate. Medical colleges cite staff shortage for failure to share details.”

According to official data, Maharashtra reported 238,780 cases of ARI with 9,144 patients hospitalised from January 2025 to November 2025.