To strengthen fight against malaria, Maharashtra government to declare it notifiable disease

To intensify its fight against malaria, the state government will soon make it mandatory for health sector stakeholders like doctors, hospitals and diagnostic facilities to report cases of this vector-borne disease to state authorities.

Health department officials will be empowered to enter construction sites and buildings to check if these locations are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and take blood samples of suspected patients with malaria being declared as a notifiable disease.

"The draft declaring malaria a notifiable disease is with the state government and the notification is expected to be issued soon," a senior state public health department official told DNA. At present, swine flu, dengue, chikungunia and leptospirosis are diseases that are notifiable.

"A significant number of patients approach the private sector for treatment. Once malaria is a notifiable disease, it will be mandatory for these medical practitioners to register these cases with the government machinery. Today, these patients are not recorded in our registry. Accurate reporting will help us focus our interventions in areas where malaria outbreaks occur," another official said.

Dr Mukund Diggikar, Joint Director, National Vector-borne Diseases Control Program, said that based on an advisory by the Centre, states like Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have already classified malaria as a notifiable disease. Maharashtra has set itself a target of eliminating malaria by 2025 as against the national target of 2030.

"The prevalence of malaria is more than one per 1,000 population in districts like Gadchiroli, Thane, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Chandrapur and Gondia. The incidence is less than one in other districts," he said, adding that tribal-dominated and Left-Wing Extremism affected Gadchiroli had around two to five cases of malaria per 1,000 population.

"Municipal areas of Thane district, that are urbanising fast, are witnessing recurring malaria cases due to rampant constructions. These areas lack adequate cleanliness; construction sites have accumulated water and workers' camps lack proper cleanliness," said Diggikar.

He explained that the notification will give health officials more power to enter and examine premises for mosquito breeding sites. It will also be mandatory for doctors, hospitals and diagnostic labs from the public and private sector to report these cases to local health authorities.

In 2016, Maharashtra had recorded 23,938 positive cases of malaria, of which 7,815 were plasmodium falciparum (PF), which is a more severe strain. The number of deaths reported was 26. In 2017, the total number of positive cases were 17,710 (5,629 were PF cases) and 20 deaths were recorded. Up to April 21, 2018, a total of 1,748 patients had tested positive for malaria, including 351 for PF. So far, no deaths due to malaria have been recorded.