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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, June 1: Monsoon, the much-awaited coolant for Mumbaiites also ushers in a barrage of contagious diseases. Hospitals (mainly municipal) are flooded with cases of water-borne diseases. And as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s precautionary bids to combat the onslaught of infectious diseases fails, the figures swell, resulting in a number of deaths each year.
In fact, each year, with the onset of monsoon, there is a steady rise in the incidence of water contamination and various infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis, typhoid, polio, jaundice, malaria and even cholera. And each year the public health department of the BMC issues a pre-monsoon circular to various departments, dictating the preventive measures to be taken.
The measures look impressive on paper. However, how many actually get translated into action is debatable given the sheer logistics and the usual inertia of the municipal staff.
For instance the hydraulic engineer’s department is asked to check all supply lines including consumer pipes for leakages in contamination-prone areas with visible leaks and to reduce excessive pressure on the sewer and make necessary alternative arrangement for water supply in affected area. The health department is instructed to stock medicines besides curbing the menace of flies and mosquito.
The superintendent of licence department is expected to ensure the destruction of stale and exposed food sold by hawkers. “Sale of cut fruits, sugarcane juice and fruit juices are banned during monsoon,” says Dr Alka Karande, executive health officer.
The preventive measures by the BMC also includes the important notification to the solid waste management department: `no accumulation of garbage should be allowed anywhere in the ward’ and `said site should be disinfected particularly in slum-pockets’. The civic staff is also expected to remove choke-ups in drainage lines and leakages.
According to Dr Karande all municipal schools will be sprayed with disinfectants as a further precaution from June 1 since children are “more susceptible.” “Medicines including I-V bottles, antibiotics, oral rehydration solutions were stocked from April 1. Chlorine tablets are also made available to all municipal wards from June 1.”
Dr P M Pai, dean of King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital told Express Newsline that during heavy rains water can enter and contaminate underground tanks. “It is thus necessary to boil drinking water.” Besides. she points out, “In the city most water pipes run parallel to sewerage pipes and with corrosion and damage of water pipes in many areas either due to wear and tear or by deliberate attempts by slum-dwellers for illegal water collection, the surrounding dirt gets mixed with water and is seen as an obvious turbidity.”
Malaria in Mumbai is almost endemic, admits Dr Karande but the most susceptible areas are the city wards from A to G/south with D ward including Malabar Hills. Dr Ram Barot, chairman of the civic public health committee informs that more than 15 per cent of garbage is left uncollected daily despite the civic body’s claims of lifting more than 5000 tonnes every day. In the monsoons garbage collection is even more sluggish, say civic sources.
