NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is in a fix. Of the 729 total cases of malaria, dengue and chikungunya in the city since January 2017, almost half are ‘missing’.
According to the Delhi Municipal Act, the health department officials are required to maintain the data of the patients of vector-borne diseases. Post treatment, the officials are supposed to do a ground check on the address from where the patient reportedly visited the hospital.
Of the 729 cases of malaria, dengue and chikungunya registered in various hospitals till August 21, 347 addresses provided by the patients were ‘untraceable’. The Department of Health, which compiles the number of cases for all the three wings of the MCD, has sent a report in this regard to the municipal commissioner.
“We are having problems regarding monitoring of the cases due to the untraceable addresses. When our field officers go for fumigation and anti-larvae check to the given address, it turns out that the place does not exist or in some cases the person is not found,” said a South Delhi health department official.
Of 215 cases of malaria, 106 remained ‘untraceable’; of 325 dengue cases, 102 had given untraceable addresses, and 91 chikungunya cases remain ‘untraceable’ of the 194 reported in the hospital, states the latest report. A similar situation had cropped up last year.
Despite asking for a report, nothing was done. The hospitals ask for an identity proof from each person who is availing treatment. But the officials claim that in many cases people who are from the economically weaker sections do not provide the right identity proof. At times, they change their location and cannot be found.