Densely populated M East ward reports 9 of every 100 deaths related to asthma: BMC

THE TIGHTLY-PACKED chawls in M East ward — near one of Asia’s largest dumping grounds in Deonar — record nine out of every 100 deaths from asthma in the city, according to data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The M East ward located in Govandi comprises about 6.5 per cent of the city’s total population and recorded 9.16 (8.97) per cent of total deaths related to asthma in the last six years. Between 2016-2021, Mumbai recorded 6,757 deaths of which 619 were from the M East ward. Faiyaz Alam Shaikh, a resident of the area, collected the data through the Right to Information (RTI), which showed that out of the six years between 2016-2021 except for 2020 and 2017, the ward saw the most number of deaths due to asthma. In 2016, the city recorded 1,080 deaths associated with asthma of which M East ward saw 85 deaths (7.8 per cent contribution), which gradually kept rising in the following years. In 2017, of the total 1,132 deaths, 102 (9 per cent) were from the ward. The ward’s tally rose to 125 in 2018, which was 10.58 per cent of the city’s 1,181 fatalities. It slightly dropped to 99 (8.7 per cent) of 1,134 deaths in 2019. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers further dropped to 97 (8.6 per cent) of 1,126 deaths in the city in 2020. During the second wave in 2021, the ward again witnessed over 10 per cent of Mumbai’s 1,104 deaths with 111 fatalities. The figures can be higher as since 2016, the BMC is recording the data according to the place of occurrence and not the deceased’s residential address. So, for the residents, who die in hospitals located in other wards their data won’t reflect in the M East ward’s figure. The residents of the ward, which ranks lowest in the Human Development Index (HDI), attribute their health woes to the pre-Independence era dumping ground at Deonar and the city’s sole bio-medical waste treatment plant and disposal facility adjoining the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road (GMLR) just beside the Deonar landfill. Faiyaz, who also is the founder of the Govandi New Sangam Welfare Society that filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court against the bio-medical waste treatment plant in 2022, said that Govandi is the hotspot of most respiratory diseases. “First, the chawls are situated along an open ‘nalla’ and the residents kept breathing in the foul smell emanating from it. Second, the bio-medical waste treatment plant and the Deonar dump yard have further intoxicated the air with pollutants,” he said. Dr Zahid Khan, a local physician, said on average 20-30 cases of asthma are reported from Govandi alone. “The residents stay in overcrowded chawls, which don’t get proper sunlight or ventilation. They already have poor immunity, which is further impacted due to the pollution emitted from the bio-medical waste plant,” he said. The residents complained that the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital in the ward lacks adequate medical experts to treat asthma patients in emergency cases and they are often referred to the Sion hospital, further delaying timely treatment. “Though the civic body knows about high incidences of respiratory diseases in the ward, the hospital doesn’t even have pulmonologists to treat patients in emergency,” said Faiyaz.