Official record of dengue cases false, claims NGO; Says BMC figures vastly low while Mumbai has seen a 600% rise in dengue cases in the last five years.

Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Tuesday, July 30, 2013.

A white paper presented by an NGO has claimed a 600 per cent increase in dengue cases in Mumbai over the last five years. More worrying is the fact that the number of fatalities has also gone up drastically. These figures, incidentally, are way higher than those provided by BMC.

According to figures obtained through RTI by Praja Foundation, the city reported 4,867 dengue cases in 2012-13, as compared to 1,879 cases in 2011-12 and 1,404 cases in 2010-11. These startling figures, however, are vastly different from those provided by the BMC. While the civic body provides figures as per calendar year, their records state that 299 positive cases have been detected in this year so far. In 2012, 1,008 cases were reported and in 2011, merely 115 cases were reported.

"We obtained this data though RTI filed in BMC and state-run hospitals and dispensaries. The figures are all from the public sector hospitals and any data from the private sector has not even been included," said Nitai Mehta, managing trustee of the Praja Foundation.

The NGO also revealed that the number of malaria cases, though high, was on a decline. From a whopping 78,449 malaria cases in 2010-11, the number came down to 39,828 in 2011-12 and 21,939 in 2012-13. A BMC official said the NGO will be asked to clarify these figures. "It seems they have counted the suspected dengue cases as well," said the official.

TB terror

In the last five years, 39,531 people have died of TB, raising concern regarding the highly infectious disease. "Our data suggests that one in every five TB patients succumbs to the disease, which is an extremely worrisome scenario. Either these patients do not respond to the treatment or they do not complete it, due to which the mortality rate is so high," said NGO's project director Milind Mhaske.

No questions asked

Astudy by the same NGO also revealed that 138 of 227 councillors in BMC's Public Health Committee have not asked a single question regarding health in the last one year. "These councillors should be the ones to raise the health concerns, highlight problems and inefficacy in the field so that the issues can be solved. But the very fact that most of them do not have even a single question to ask reveals the loopholes in the system," said a member of the NGO.