Monsoon is yet to hit the city completely, but cases of malaria have already doubled this year.
The number of cases touched 51 by June 30, while it was just 22 for the same period in 2010, said a senior doctor in the district health department, on condition of anonymity.
Though the government figures may not give a complete picture, it certainly hints at a dangerous trend of the prevalence of disease.
Dr Jaswinder Singh Anand, a physician at Medanta Medicity said, “I agree that the number of malaria patients is rising, but it hasn’t doubled at least in New Gurgaon.”
Even big hospitals in the city have reported a rise in malaria cases. Seven cases were reported from Paras Hospital, two from Apollo and five from Artemis Health Institute.
To control the disease in the city, the health department is in regular touch with hospitals.
“The lab technician of the hospital informs the district malaria office when a case is found. We, then, send the inspector and medicine for radical treatment (RT) of the patient,” said the officer.
“Fogging and spraying are expensive methods to curb malaria. Fogging of one house costs around Rs 1,200 while medicine for spraying costs R190 per kilogram,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}“Fogging and spraying are expensive methods to curb malaria. Fogging of one house costs around Rs 1,200 while medicine for spraying costs R190 per kilogram,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}It is cheaper to take certain preventive measures to check breeding of mosquitoes. Though RT curbs the spread of disease, but many a times, the district malaria office fails to trace the patients because of wrong phone numbers or addresses provided to them.
“After the RT, the disease becomes non-communicable and the patient also recuperates, provided he takes medication regularly,” said the
officer. The reasons for the rise in the number of cases could be due to lack of awareness about preventive measures which leads to faster spread of the disease, said the officer.