BMC to empower Mumbaikars with ward-wise disease info

Monsoon-related diseases along with diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis are among the common illnesses in the city

The civic body is all set to kickstart a ward-wise disease information, education and communication (IEC) programme and it is in process to collect information on prevalent diseases in each ward. With the pandemic teaching one the importance of health, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to empower Mumbaikars with information on various diseases.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said the IEC will be launched by January 1, in an attempt to strengthen the primary healthcare in the city. "We plan to get closer to Mumbaikars health wise and we will begin this by launching the IEC programme at the ward level where we plan to educate people on various diseases," he said.

Kakani said the corporation will be taking help from various mediums including social media, print and television and physical dialogue to raise awareness on diseases. "In Mumbai, diseases like diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and monsoon-related illness are common. To begin with, our IEC will focus on the common diseases prevalent in the city and our IEC will include educating people on the illnesses, symptoms, tests, precautions to be taken, diet and when to approach hospital," he said.

He added that the civic health department is also in the process of finding disease prevalence in every ward. "To further strengthen our primary healthcare, we have this ward-wise health plan that will focus on diseases prevalent in each ward. As per the disease prevalence, we plan to modify our health infrastructure in the wards," he explained.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner

Appreciating the civic body's efforts on modifying its health infrastructure, Dr Kedar Toraskar, critical care specialist at Wockhardt Hospital, said the pandemic has made everybody realise that health is the most important part of our lives. "Health has been the most neglected subject till the time the pandemic happened. It is good that BMC is rolling out these initiatives that will go a long way in keeping Mumbai healthier. There are similar healthcare systems abroad for both communicable and non-communicable diseases where the preventive and social medicine department staff works closely to connect and spread awareness on diseases," he said.

Dr Toraskar added that in the past, community level awareness has helped eradicate diseases like polio, leprosy, small pox etc. "It is good that our corporation is rolling out ward level IEC for different diseases and doing a survey to find disease prevalence ward-wise," he said.

Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at Bombay Hospital, said the initiative will go a long way in forming better health policy for the city. "The survey to find disease prevalence will help future health policies. During the pandemic, we saw how non-communicable diseases played a key role. Knowing the health status of the city and empowering people on how to deal with various diseases will help in having a healthy Mumbai," he said.

It is said that around 7.6 lakh patients use public hospitals for their healthcare needs. In view of this, BMC plans to decentralise and reduce the burden on its tertiary care hospitals by starting polyclinic and diagnostic centres in each municipal wards in 2022.

1 Jan
Day by when the programme is set to be launched