The report “On State Of Health of Mumbai”, released by Praja Foundation for the third consecutive year, has irked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) yet again. The report raises some vital issues that need to be addressed.
The study claimed that 69 per cent of Mumbai’s population visits private and charitable dispensaries/hospitals for treatment. And, 31 per cent of the city’s population visits only government dispensaries/hospitals.
Building on the same, the report raises the question that the civic body has no mechanism of tracking any data from privately-owned healthcare institutions. “How can public health department authorities frame any healthcare policy for our megapolis when it does not have access to healthcare data from private doctors, clinics and hospitals visited by a distinct majority of our city population?” questioned Nitai Mehta, founder trustee, Praja Foundation.
The BMC not just questioned the authenticity of the report, but also insisted that they had a mechanism in place to collect data from private hospitals and institutions. “The data and statistics presented by the NGO are questionable and unscientific. We don’t consider their study scientific enough,” maintained Manisha Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner. “We very much have a mechanism in place for collection of data from the private sector. All monsoon-related ailments are to be notified to the corporation, and the same applies for major diseases. We will also include non-communicable diseases now,” added Ms Mhaiskar.
Praja Foundation, in its report, also claimed that
BMC was part of a roundtable last year, which focussed on importance of data in formulating healthcare policies for the city and the state.
BMC representatives had, at the roundtable, explained in detail how the corporation, too, was keen on gathering data on healthcare from all parts of the city, but
lamented the lack of data from the non-government healthcare segment that is visited by almost 69 per cent of the city’s population.
“I know of no such roundtable. At least I was not involved in it, nor was the executive health officer (EHO),” Ms Mhaiskar.