BMC intensifies its drive, zeroes in on most-affected areas; Civic officials say hospitals are geared up for emergency
BMC intensifies its drive, zeroes in on most-affected areas; Civic officials say hospitals are geared up for emergency
Sharad Vyas/Deepa Suryanarayan
MUMBAI: Six people were reported dead in the city on Saturday from suspected leptospirosis, malaria, fever and other ailments, taking the death toll from rain-related diseases in the last 72 hours to 27.
On Saturday, 329 people were admitted to civic hospitals—a significant fall from the 1,300 admissions on Thursday. Civic officials claimed that the rate of deaths was coming down.
In a meeting on Saturday, civic officials decided to intensify their preventive drive and restrict it to areas with most number of diseases. “There is no point running around tracking the diseases. We will concentrate only on disease-prone areas,” said Dr Jayraj Thanekar, executive health officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
BMC officials claimed that hospitals were geared up to cope with the rush of new cases. But, patients told a different tale. They said that there were not even enough bed in hospitals, and the facilities provided were minimal.
“There are just too few beds compared to the number of people taken ill,” said a 30-year-old woman admitted to Sion hospital for suspected dengue.
Senior civic officials assured that these were but teething problems, and would be sorted out soon. “When patients come to hospital, we have to examine them and complete other formalities. This takes time. If you look from a patient’s point of view, it is a delay, but then we, too, have a job to do,” said Mangal Mange, chairman, civic health committee.
As for preventive measures, BMC officials said that special medical teams comprising doctors and paramedics from municipal medical colleges and Public Health Department had been formed. Also, there were required diagnostic equipment and adequate stocks of medicines. Teams from Nair Hospital would be covering Kurla and Chembur areas, teams from KEM Hospital would be covering Andheri, Kandivili, and Borivali; and teams from Sion Hospital would be covering Dharavi, Bandra (East) and Santa Cruz (West) areas, while Health Post staff would be taking care of Jijamata Nagar and Worli, a BMC official said.
Apart from this, pest control officers of the concerned wards would be looking after Sindhi Camp-Kurla (East), Ghatla Village, Gazdarbund-Santacruz (West), Jijamata Nagar-Worli, Bharat Nagar-Bandra(East), Ramabai Colony-Ghatkopar (East) as priority areas to be rid of flies and mosquitoes.
'Hospitals are in sorry state'
DNA Correspondent
MUMBAI: Sunanda Lokhande is yet to come to terms with the loss of her son, Abhishek. The 17-year-old succumbed to fever on Wednes-day. The Lokhandes reside in Gautamnagar, Dadar, where water reaches waist-level whenever it rains heavily . "There is no escape. We face the same problems year after year," said Sunanda. "But this time, the rains have claimed my son."
Last Saturday, Abhishek had complained of high fever, and was treated by a local doctor. "His fever subsided, but the vomiting did not stop. We took him to another doctor, who advised us to get him admitted to KEM Hospital," said Sunanda.
"From our experience, we can tell you that hospitals are not prepared to handle emergencies or an epidemic. There were 37 hepatitis patients in Ward 11, where Abhishek had been admitted. Later, he was shifted to the ICU, where there were five more. But there were no doctors when they were needed, especially during the nights," said Pranay Abhishek’s elder brother.
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