Mumbai: TB again top killer disease, lifestyle ailments not far behind
MUMBAI: Tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes have emerged among the top killers of 2014-15, showing how maximum city is at the receiving end of both infectious and lifestyle diseases. Additionally, the 'State of Health of Mumbai' report released by NGO Praja Foundation on Tuesday, showed that a significant number of people from productive age-groups have died of absolutely treatable and preventable diseases.
Of the 90,552 deaths in the financial year 2013-14, 6496 were
due to tuberculosis, 5055 attributable to complications arising
out of hypertension and 2472 due to diabetes. Further, there has
been a 19% increase in diabetes cases when compared with
2013-14. A 9% increase has been noted in both cases and deaths
due to hypertension.
Tuberculosis that has been ruling the death charts for w while
has started showing some decline. The death rate has fallen from
8.1% in 2013-14 to 7.2% in 2014-15. Cases however have been
going up steadily.
"The burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases
is on a rise. Civic body mostly reacts to an epidemic rather
than working proactively to prevent it," said Nitai Mehta,
managing trustee of Praja Foundation. Citing a worrisome trend,
he said that 35% malaria, 30% of TB and 37% of dengue deaths
have been in the age groups of 20-39 years. "These are
productive age groups and deaths can amount to huge economic
losses for families as well as state," he said.
Physician Dr Hemant Thacker endorsed diabetes and hypertension
as the two biggest health threats looming over the city.
"Hypertension is responsible for coronary heart disease, stroke
and kidney diseases," he said.
Praja collects data from death certificates issued by the
municipal offices, which is often contested by its own
surveillance department. In tuberculosis, for instance, the NGO
found out that around 6589 death certificates had TB as the
cause of death in 2014. BMC's TB cell data however registered
only 1351 deaths. Even in malaria cases, death certificates
showed 118 deaths contrary to malaria cell's toll of 18.
Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh however said
the methodology of collecting the data is not fool-proof. "Our
data shows that heart attacks claim most lives. Also did they
take into consideration the fact that many people who die in
Sewri TB Hospital are not from Mumbai?" he said.
The report also showed that while malaria cases were declining,
dengue is on a rise. In 2014-15, for instance over 10,000 people
had dengue as opposed to 2000-odd confirmed cases revealed by
the civic body.
Source:
The Times of India
