‘Report vector-­borne disease cases regularly’

MUMBAI: Many private hospitals are not reporting vector-borne diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya, to the public health department, leaving government health

MUMBAI: Many private hospitals are not reporting vector-borne diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya, to the public health department, leaving government health agencies with inadequate data, said officials from the health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

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The BMC has started sending notices to hospitals that have been treating dengue and chikungunya patients, asking them to report the number of patients regularly. Vectors refer to organisms like insects that can transmit diseases between humans or from animals to humans.

Recently, through documents accessed under the Right To Information Act, NGO Praja Foundation pointed out that only 30% of the city’s population depends on public hospitals for treatment, while others prefer to go to private clinics or hospitals.

“The numbers projected by BMC are wrong, because private hospitals are not reporting cases and that consequently affects an action plan,” said a Praja Foundation representative.

Senior doctors from Kohinoor Hospital, Kurla, recently received such a notice from BMC after they allegedly failed to report cases of dengue.Dr Sachin Gadkari, head, medical services, Kohinoor Hospitals, said a notice was sent to them but they had already sent the details.

“We have been sending the reports every week and now we have started notifying the local medical officer every evening ,” said Gadkari.

BMC executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar said that while all the large hospitals, governed by the charity commissioner, are notifying the cases, medical officers of municipal wards have the responsibility to check if cases are reported regularly.

“We sent a general notification to 43 hospitals to record the cases through epidemiology cell. The local MOs are ensuring smaller hospitals are sending reports,” said Keskar.

Talking about the recently reported cases of chikungunya, she said there is no need to panic as the ailment is not severe and has a negligible mortality rate.

“The cases are not concentrated in one region; neither does it have any immediate threat like in the case of severe dengue, where there is a sudden drop in platelet count. At the same time, people need to be more vigilant about their surroundings and report any breeding site ,” said Keskar.