Malaria cases on decline?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Friday claimed that the malaria menace had reached a plateau and that the number of patients coming to the civic hospitals was declining. HT reports

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday claimed that the malaria menace had reached a plateau and that the number of patients coming to the civic hospitals was declining.

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According to BMC data, on July 28, of the 1,843 people who visited the Out Patients Departments (OPD) of the three major hospitals, 306 patients were diagnosed with malaria.

On August 5, 104 of the 1,354 patients in the OPDs were diagnosed with malaria while 220 malaria patients were admitted on August 6.

“The trend is that the number of cases is dropping and that the graph has reached a plateau,” said Municipal Commissioner, Swadheen Kshatriya.

Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of KEM Hospital, said the number of mattresses laid on the floor to accommodate patients in the civic hospitals had also reduced.

However, officials from the Indian Medical Association said that more than 70 per cent of the city’s population visits private doctors and thus the BMC should consider the patients and malaria deaths in private hospitals before making any such claim.

On Friday, the civic Standing Committee passed a proposal to purchase mosquito larvicidal oil worth Rs 8.5 crore. The BMC has also served notices to 40 builders, for non compliance of keeping their sites free of mosquito breeding sites.

So far there have been 14 malaria deaths since July. Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of KEM hospital, said the BMC would fill the 274 vacant posts for conservancy staff on daily wage basis and employ more than 280 nurses on contract for the next three months.

“The idea is to cut time, all these recruitments will be on walk in basis,” added Oak. He added that at least five to seven per cent of the civic doctors were down with malaria.

The civic body has also started evening OPDs in 113 dispensaries from July 23. These OPDs have seen 16,413 patients of which 3,200 were diagnosed with malaria.