BHUBANESWAR: AMID a surge in malaria and dengue, allegations of under-reporting of cases of vector borne diseases have surfaced raising concerns about transparency in the state’s public health data.
The anomalies in data came to the fore during a recent review meeting on mass drug administration (MDA) where a health official from a southern district accused his authorities of concealing fatalities linked to malaria.
According to sources, the official alleged that deaths caused by malaria were not being reported accurately and some of the fatalities were attributed to other causes. As his submission created a furore in the meeting, director of public health Dr Nilakantha Mishra stepped in to recover the situation.
“The state has done well in malaria control drawing appreciation from the WHO. Under-reporting of cases is not correct. It could be in your district, but all others are reporting correctly and regularly,” Dr Mishra reportedly told the officer.
Odisha reported 41,739 malaria cases and nine deaths in 2020, 25,503 cases and 13 deaths in 2021, 23,770 cases and five deaths in 2022, 41,973 cases and four deaths in 2023, and 51,398 cases and five deaths till September this year.
While the districts reported 51,398 cases in M4 format, the number of reported malaria cases stood at 40,313 in the integrated health information platform (IHIP), of which 36,934 patients were reported to have undergone treatment. M4 is a malaria reporting format used to record fortnightly case information from a sub-centre, PHC, district, or state and is part of the health management information system.
“The difference of 11,085 cases between the two reporting formats this year is an indication of under-reporting of cases. The data anomalies in malaria cases had surfaced last year too. While the state recorded around 82,000 cases in 2023 in IHIP, it reported 41,973 cases to the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control,” the sources said.
There is also no respite from the dengue outbreak, which has seen a steady rise in cases across the state. While 9,425 cases have been recorded till November 13, the health directorate is silent about the official death figure despite at least half-a-dozen genuine complaints.
In August, the wife of a Union minister had died of dengue while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city and the minister himself had announced the death. But it was not officially recorded as being caused by the disease, raising questions about the state’s reporting mechanism.
Health experts emphasised on the importance of accurate data in formulating effective disease control strategies. “If the government is hiding cases and deaths, it not only undermines trust but also hampers efforts to address the outbreaks effectively,” they said.
Dr Mishra, however, refuted the allegations and said the state follows a mechanism to verify deaths due to vector borne diseases through a panel of experts. “We announce the deaths after an audit. The districts are being directed time and again to correctly report cases on the real-time platforms,” the public health director added.