Malaria cases on the rise across Mumbai

Malaria is giving the city shivers this winter. The civic body, however, denied that there was any spurt in malaria cases even when they have been receiving 1800-2000 blood samples of suspected malaria every day.

But figures provided by the BMC slightly contradict their claim. Areas like Worli, Prabhadevi and Mahalaxmi have reported 330 cases of malaria in the month of December itself. While, Parel and Sewri have reported 204 cases of malaria till December 30 and 133 cases were reported from Malabar Hill and Nana Chowk. In the western suburbs, 56 cases of malaria were reported from Bandra(W), Khar(W) and Santacruz (W) while about 55 cases were reported from Goregaon east and west.   

“The numbers are much less compared to that during the rainy season but areas like Worli and Parel continue to report high number of cases,” said Dr Kishore Hargoli, assistant health officer, surveillance, BMC. “There is a mosquito nuisance in the city but that cannot essentially be the reason for malaria cases,” said Deepak Adsul, insecticide officer, BMC. General physicians also maintain that there is a flow of malaria patients. Incidentally, the World Bank project to control malaria in Mumbai is to take off in a couple of months.