Mumbai: City dispensaries report most respiratory infection cases

Over 12.71 lakh of them complained of ARI — the highest number of patients for any disease. (Representational Image)

ACUTE RESPIRATORY Infection (ARI) is the most common disease reported by patients at dispensaries in the city, according to a study conducted on morbidity patterns at healthcare facilities of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Of the total number of patients visiting dispensaries, around 21 per cent complained of ARI.

According to data collected from the Epidemiological Cell and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Cell of Kasturba Infectious Disease Hospital for 175 dispensaries across wards, 61.74 lakh patients visited the dispensaries between October 2015 and September 2017. Over 12.71 lakh of them complained of ARI — the highest number of patients for any disease.

“This is a phenomenon noticed in most parts of the country. The elderly and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are more prone to respiratory infections. During winters, the morbidity and mortality rate for ARI is higher,” said Shahid Barmare, consultant physician at Kohinoor Hospital.

A time trend of the data obtained also shows that the most number of ARI cases and that of fevers and age-related ailments were observed during the winter. With 2.95 lakh patients, after ARI, fever (of unknown origin) was the second important reason for patients to visit dispensaries. While around 1.88 lakh patients had complained of age-related diseases, diabetes is the fourth most common ailment among patients, followed by hypertension.

A whopping 18.5 lakh patients visited the dispensaries due to top 10 communicable diseases. Only 3.69 lakh visited complaining of non-communicable diseases, the study added. Have a comment or suggestion for Data Set?

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