Netas fiddle while Mumbai ails

Why is Mumbai plagued by so many ailments? The answer may be hidden in the poor performance of our elected representatives in the health committee meetings where their duty is to question the administration.

Many corporators have been playing truant with below average attendance records at health committee meetings from 2008 to 2010, revealed data collected by Praja Foundation, an NGO. The health committee meets once a month.

“We collected data on the five sensitive diseases announced by WHO — malaria, diarrhoea, hypertension, tuberculosis and diabetes. We were shocked to see the rising pattern of diarrhoea cases in the city during monsoon. But, our elected representatives are hardly doing anything about it,” said Nitai Mehta, managing trustee of Praja Foundation.
Of the 36 corporators of the committee, only two had above 90% attendance.

But, the number of corporators with below 59% attendance has increased over the three years.

From April 2008-March 2009, 12 corporators had below 59% attendance at the health committee meetings.

The number rose to 17 for the period April 2009-March 2010 and 21 from April 2010-March 2011.

There has been a slight improvement in the number of questions posed in the meetings. While 23 corporators did not pose a single question in April 2008-09, the number fell to 21 in April 2009-10 and then 17 in April 2010- 11.

Kamlakar Naik, Shiv Sena corporator from Kurla, the only representative to have asked the highest number of questions in the meetings, said: “Corporators fear that the doctors will get angry with them. But, we should raise questions and hold the administration and doctors accountable.”

While malaria and diarrhoea remained health concerns among city doctors, the maximum questions raised during health committee meetings were on cemeteries and crematorium.

“In the health committee meetings in April 2010-March 2011, 12 questions related to cemeteries and crematorium were asked. Only one query was on fumigation, while six were asked on health infrastructure,” said Mehta.

In last three years, 2,100 people have succumbed to malaria. The malaria death toll across all 24 wards in 2008 was 348. The number increased to 612 in 2009 and to 1,190 in 2010.

Since 2008, deaths due to malaria alone shot up by 242%. Mumbai has also seen a rise in number of people suffering from diarrhoea every year.

More than 1,400 people suffered from diarrhoea in the last three years.
In 2008, 427 cases of diarrhoea were registered, 447 cases in 2009 and 559 in 2010.