Mumbai: Private labs to report malaria cases to BMC

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With malaria being declared a notifiable disease by the Centre, private labs and doctors are ensuring that data is procured and relayed to the official channels. More than a hundred cases have already been reported by the private healthcare sector. A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. The collation of information allows authorities to monitor the disease, and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.

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Dr Mangla Gomare, executive health officer of BMC said that they got a directive from the state government, stating that apart from the BMC, private hospitals, doctors and labs would have to notify malaria cases to the BMC. "The same message was conveyed to the private healthcare sector." A health officer from one of the wards said, "Each ward has a designated Malaria Control Officer, and an email ID on which the private lab can report the cases."

According to data provided by the BMC health department, in the last 38 days, 124 cases have been notified by the private health sector. A health official said, "To achieve the malaria elimination target it is important to get a report of every case. Accordingly, we will ask our insecticide department to survey a particular place from where cases are coming up and initiate action to neutralise breeding spots."