The state health department and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have released contradictory figures on the status of dengue and chikungunya patients in the city. While the state’s health report released by the Health Department says Mumbai has no dengue deaths data released by the BMC states that since the start of this year four people have died because of dengue.
Similarly, the state’s health report card claims there’s no chikungunya case in Mumbai, but the BMC report has confirmed four cases of chikungunya. The BMC has also claimed that there are 12 probable cases of chikungunya.
The two reports were released last week, focusing on the alarming condition of serious ailments such as chikungunya, dengue, and leptospirosis. According to state figures, the state has recorded 1,804 cases of chikungunya between January and October this year as against only 35 in the same period last year. Whereas, the BMC’s report from January to October said four patients and 12 probable patients in public and private hospitals across the city are suffering from chikungunya.
Dr Minnie Khetrapal, head of BMC’s epidemiology department, said, “We record all confirmed cases, as per the government guidelines. We had sent a general notification to all the hospitals, clinics and nursing homes including private and government-run, to report the cases to epidemiology cell. We have clearly stated and submitted our report to the state government. It might be an error from their side, not from our side.”
Joint director of health services of the state, Dr Kanchan Jagtap, handles both vector-borne and water-borne diseases, along with monitoring epidemics. He said, “I am not aware about this goof up, but we collected data from all districts and councils. Whatever information we had, we shared it and we haven’t got any confirmation from the BMC.”
Reacting to the differences in the reports, Milind Mhaske, project director, Praja Foundation, an organisation working on civic issues, said, “These reports aren’t proper and government always manipulates it, no wonder it is contradictory. Our data is different from both of these reports.”
