NEW DELHI: Causes of non-institutional deaths, which amounted to 39 per cent of the total deaths (1,42,789) in Delhi in 2020, remain unknown as the annual report on registration of births and deaths by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics and office of chief registrar does not provide data, said a report prepared by Praja Foundation.
Praja Foundation released its report on the ‘State of Health in Delhi’ on Thursday. The report also found that between the age group of 25 to 64 years, which is the productive age, a majority of 17,284 (54%) deaths were reported in 2020, out of a total of 32,156 non-communicable diseases (NCD) deaths.
“As per the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act, causes for both institutional and non-institutional deaths are to be recorded. This data provides an understanding of the reasons for deaths and the diseases causing the deaths to enable better planning of healthcare services as well as better policy making,” stated Mangesh Pednekar, Director, Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health.
The report stated that there is 1 dispensary for 18,226 people in Delhi while the Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) norm states there should be one dispensary for 15,000. Delhi is quite close to the UDPFI norms.
However, there exists major gaps in human resource allocation for healthcare. Municipal Corporation of Delhi and state dispensaries and hospitals cumulatively had 22% vacancy of medical staff and 37% of para-medical staff.