The Hindu     08.07.2016     

BMC’s TB, malaria death figures inconsistent, RTI query reveals

 Number of death certificates citing TB and malaria as causes far more than cases recorded by civic surveillance cells

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) reply to
an RTI query filed by city-based NGO Praja Foundation has revealed
discrepancies in the number of deaths due to tuberculosis and malaria
recorded by the civic body, and the death certificates it has issued
citing these diseases as cause of death.

Members of
the Praja Foundation, which released its annual ‘State of Health of
Mumbai’ report on Thursday, said the figures reflected the civic body’s
failure in collecting data from private health facilities to arrive at
the real burden of disease and coming up with appropriate strategies to
tackle the problem.

Using the RTI Act, the NGO found
that for instance, the BMC’s TB Control Unit recorded 1,459 deaths in
2015 but TB was given as the cause of death in 5,680 death certificates
issued by the civic body. Similarly, a wide gap was noticed between the
malaria deaths recorded by the civic health department’s Malaria
Surveillance Report and the number of death certificates issued citing
malaria as the cause of death.

The NGO said it had
conducted a survey of over 25,000 households and found that around 34
per cent used government health facilities. Its members said BMC relies
solely on data from civic hospitals and dispensaries, while ignoring
patients who opt for private medical facilities.

Also,
they said, the BMC’s figures have remained more or less consistent over
the years, and reflect in its strategy to battle the diseases. Milind
Mhaske of Praja Foundation said interventions to tackle these diseases
would have been more focussed if data from non-BMC health facilities had
been factored in as well.

The NGO found that most
malaria, tuberculosis and dengue deaths were in the productive age group
of 20 to 59. However, the issue wasn’t raised in the assembly by MLAs
including members of the public health committee.

The
Praja Foundation has sought a verbal autopsy (a research method
involving interviews of families of the deceased). “This is an essential
tool to understand the cause of death, and should be undertaken
seriously,” the report notes.

A verbal autopsy by BMC in 2015 notes 7,090 TB-related deaths in 2014, while the TB Control Unit had recorded only 1,315 deaths.

Despite
repeated attempts, BMC executive health officer Dr. Padmaja Keskar and
other senior civic health officials were not available for comment.

The TB Control Unit recorded 1,459 deaths in 2015, but TB was the cause of death in 5,680 death certificates