15 July, 2017

18 Mumbaikars die of TB every day, says NGO study

Not only do 18 Mumbaikars die of tuberculosis (TB) every day, the number of Mumbaikars dropping out of rigorous TBtreatment increased from 9% in 2012 to 19% in 2016-17, said new data released by NGO Praja on Wednesday. However, civic officials dismissed the NGO's analysis. "A health programme cannot be analysed based on some data randomly gathered using RTI," said civic TB officer Dr Daksha Shah. In fact, the BMC public health department had, in its RTI reply, asked Praja to analyse the data with Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) officials.

Praja officials were adamant. "There is clearly something wrong with BMC's TB control programme," said Praja's Milind Mhaske. "There has been a sharp drop in the number of people signing up with the RNTCP for treatment. This shows people prefer to go to the private sector for treatment. Moreover, the dropout rate in the government programme has increased from 9% in 2012 to 19% in 2016," he added.

Praja brings out a health report every year, analyzing data gathered from BMC's health department using RTI. It uses information mentioned in death certificates to calculate the toll due to various diseases - a step the BMC has been opposed to because its officials say death certificates are not scientifically filled out.  At a press conference held on Wednesday, Mhaske said, "Mumbai's health budget for 2017-18 was Rs 3,312 crore. This is only marginally lower than the entire budget for Thane Municipal Cor poration (Rs 3,390 crore). Yet, there is a lot more that needs to be done."

BMC officials said the data was "unscientifically" put together. A senior BMC official on Wednesday said Praja sought data about "new registrations" in 2016 from the BMC. "We replied that new registrations are 15,767. Now, TB treatment stretches from six months to three years, leading to some patients continuing treatment for years," said the official.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

15.07.2017

The secret of forgiving everything is to understand nothing

George Bernard Shaw