Malaria became deadlier in August, a lot deadlier. Despite the slew of measures taken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic agencies to counter the disease, a near three-fold jump in malaria deaths was recorded in August.
According to statistics provided by the public health department in the BMC, 47 people died of malaria in August this year. The toll was 18 in July.
Even as the department insisted that there had been a decline in the overall number of people who tested positive for the disease — from 17,000 in July to 15,000-odd in August — there was a nearly 37% rise in the number of admissions to public hospitals on account of the disease.
In August, 5,392 malaria patients were admitted to hospitals. The figure was 3,949 in July.
The trend was also noticed in the case of dengue, where a three-fold jump was recorded in the number of patients admitted in public hospitals. It shot from 81 in July to 245 in August. Six died of the disease in August, as against one in July.
Fever admissions nearly doubled, too, from 8,470 in July to 15,004 in August. Deaths came down from 1 to nil in this case during the same period.
Dr Guirish Ambe, executive health officer, BMC, blamed heavy rainfall activity in the month for the rise. He added that malaria is known to peak in August. Dr Ambe further reasoned that the rise in admissions could be attributed to increase in awareness among citizens about the symptoms and dangers posed by these diseases.
Refuting the claim that the contingency measures were falling short, Dr Ambe claimed that all was being done to contain the spread of water-borne diseases. “The decrease in incidence of malaria cases is a direct result of these efforts,” he said. To buttress his point, he said that there was a decline in admissions in cases of gastroenteritis and leptospirosis in August.
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