More suffer from Diarrhoea than Malaria in city

The ailment that's affecting most Mumbaiites is diarrhoea, and Kurla is the unhealthiest area in the city.

The ailment that's affecting most Mumbaiites is diarrhoea, and Kurla is the unhealthiest area in the city.

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A report on the kind and number of illnesses reported at Mumbai's civic health centres in the past one year (April 2009-March 2010) shows the city's health situation is worsening and that the top five complaints are diarrhoea, malaria, hypertension, tuberculosis and diabetes.

The document, released on Tuesday by non-governmental organisation Praja Foundation, shows the number of ailments reported at the 158 civic dispensaries across all the wards have gone up by at least 75 per cent.

The NGO collected the data using the Right to information Act from the 158 civic dispensaries.

There's a substantial rise in the incidence of diarrhoea and malaria, with diarrhoea topping the chart: 1,04,377 cases were recorded in 2009-2010 as against 72,548 cases 2008-2009.

Diarrhoea is caused mainly because of consumption of contaminated water. A week ago, HT had reported that the city's water contamination rate has increased from 13 per cent last year to 26 per cent in 2009-2010.

As reported earlier, the number of malaria cases have doubled, rising to 19,867 in 2009-2010 from 10,004.

"With all these figures in hand, the BMC should have begun intensive treatment a year back," said Nitai Mehta, founder trustee of Praja.

In the report, Kurla has the maximum number of reported cases (14,593) in 2009-2010. Last year, it had recorded 6,866 cases and was fourth on the list.

The other areas that have fared poorly include Parel, Byculla, Andheri-East and Prabhadevi.