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