Citizens refuse entry to PMC staff for health survey

The team is now facing resistance from around 10,00,000 people living in housing societies on Ghole Road, Aundh, Baner, Kothrud and Kalyani Nagar

A door-to-door health survey undertaken by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to find out the actual disease burden and rising/declining trends of diseases amongst Punekars has ground to a halt, almost, due to some citizens’ refusal to cooperate and allow the civic staff entry into prominent housing societies.

The PMC has to cover 35 lakh people residing in the city out of which, it has managed to survey 24,77,000 people (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The survey began on April 1 and has to be completed by May 31. The PMC has to cover 35 lakh people residing in the city out of which, it has managed to survey 24,77,000 people living in 6,68,000 houses (individual houses and slums). However, civic health officials are now struggling to cover the remaining 10,00,000 people residing in big housing societies due to their non-cooperation and refusal to let the staff enter the housing societies.

The door-to-door survey to collect information about family planning, communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCD), maternal health and immunisation began on April 1. The PMC even appointed 300 nurses for carrying out the survey. While there were no glitches in surveying around 25,00,000 people living in individual homes and slums in the city, the team is now facing resistance from around 10,00,000 people living in housing societies on Ghole Road, Aundh, Baner, Kothrud and Kalyaninagar. These residents are refusing the PMC staff entry into the housing societies and are not cooperating or sharing details and generally refusing information among others. So much so that the PMC has urged the citizens to cooperate with the team so that the survey gets completed.

Dr Vaishali Jadhav, assistant health officer of the PMC, said that they will not take the help of the police but if required, will ask the ward medical officers (WMOs) and zonal medical officers (ZMOs) to hold a meeting with the residents of housing societies that are not cooperating with the PMC staff. “What the PMC is doing is for the welfare of the public. So, the citizens should support us and cooperate with us. The staff has identity proofs and permission letters from the PMC and the respective WMO and ZMO to conduct the survey. In case of security concerns, the citizens can verify the documents before permitting entry and sharing information. However, non-cooperation and refusing entry to the staff is wrong,” she said.

“Even before the survey, the WMO and ZMO have conducted community meetings to inform in advance about the survey to be conducted by the PMC. Till now, there were no issues and the people in the slums, Peth areas and individual houses supported us. But the problem started when the survey began in big and prominent housing societies,” she said.

A senior officer from the PMC health department on condition of anonymity said that the survey is important to find out the actual disease burden and rising/declining trend of diseases amongst the citizens. “The beneficiaries that are identified during the survey will then be included in various health programmes so that they can avail the benefits of schemes. But people are not able to understand and despite several requests, many are refusing to cooperate or permit entry to the staff,” the officer said.

Civic officials recalled that even while tracing contacts of the kin of Covid-positive patients during the pandemic, some of them did not cooperate to the extent that they had to take the help of police officials.

Abhijeet Patel, secretary, Kalyani Nagar Resident Association (KNRA), said that he does not agree with PMC stating that the citizens are not cooperating. “The way the civic staff approach the citizens also matters. If identity proof is shown by PMC staff then residents would not refuse to cooperate. Residents panic when a civic staff visits, and mostly comply. However, some residents who live in elite housing societies may not cooperate due to privacy and safety concerns.”

Santosh Bhaskar, a resident of Kothrud, said, “Civic officials are conducting surprise visits. Many may not be comfortable to share their details or permit entry to the housing societies if not informed prior due to safety reasons. People who are office goers leave their house in the morning and return late in the evening. Many times only the elderly people are at home in the afternoon. If anyone comes in the afternoon, how could they expect to be entertained? The PMC should hold a meeting in advance with the citizens to inform us about the survey.”