The
Asian Age: Mumbai: Sunday, 22 March 2015.
According to
RTI data, Mumbai tops the chart in number of deaths caused by state’s deadliest
disease
Mumbai bears
the highest burden of heart-related diseases, which is the biggest killer in
Maharashtra, according to data procured from the state health department and
BMC and private hospitals in the city. While a total of 2,22,707 people have
died of heart attacks in the state between 2001 and 2012, over 1,65,586 have
died of the disease in Mumbai between 2011 to 2014. The data has been procured
by RTI activist Chetan Kothari
An average of
27 deaths occur in the city due to heart ailments every day while 810 people
die due to them monthly. In comparison, 51 people die of heart ailments in the
state daily while the monthly average stands at 1,546.
The
second-highest killer disease in the state is tuberculosis, followed by cancer.
The number of people dying of both the diseases in the state is in close
proximity to the number of people dying due of them in the city every year.
While
1,85,279 patients have died of tuberculosis between 2001 and 2012, a total of
1,13,686 have died of it between 2001 and 2014. On the other hand, while cancer
has taken 72,759 lives in the city in the past 14 years, the state’s toll has
been 1,21,643 between 2001 and 2012.
According to
the estimates, on an average, 23 patients succumb to tuberculosis and its
various forms in the city every day while 42 die of it in the state daily. On
the other hand, the average estimate of cancer stands at 13 per day and 396
monthly in the city.
The
burgeoning AIDS burden also lies heavily on the city as it has claimed 10,948
lives in BMC and private hospitals in Mumbai and 27,771 lives in the state.
The other 13
diseases that have taken the most lives in the state and the city include
kidney and liver failures, typhoid, jaundice, dengue, malaria, viral fever and
cholera.
According to
city doctors, the main reasons for the rising number of fatalities are
overcrowding, flawed lifestyle, unhygienic conditions, malnutrition and most
importantly, poor immune system.
“The other
factors would not have been responsible for the fatalities if our immune system
was strong. Due to weak immune system, when we come in close proximity to
people infected with the disease we pick up the infection very easily,” said Dr
Om Shrivastava, director of department of infectious diseases, Jaslok Hospital.
With regards
to cardiac diseases, Dr Haresh Mehta, cardiologist, Fortis Hospital, Mulund
said, “In most of the cases, heart disease is a self-induced disease that a
patient incurs due to their lethal lifestyles with no exercise, consumption of
junk food, uncontrolled diabetes, stress, obesity, etc. It is killing people
and will continue to do so if we fail to adopt a better routine and eating
habits.
Seconding the
findings on cancer, Dr Jyoti Dabholkar, head of the oncology department, KEM
Hospital, said, “The numbers have indeed tripled in the last 10 years and are
expected to rise further in the city with an estimate of eight million people
dying every year by 2030 globally. Smoking and tobacco chewing has killed most
of the people (killed by cancer) in the city.”
Experts from
the field said that the numbers also reflect the influx of people coming to the
city from rural areas for better treatment. “However, when it comes to
tuberculosis, dengue, viral fever and AIDS, most people are getting infected
due to our living conditions,” said Dr Anant Padhke, co-coordinator,
SATHI-CEHAT.
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