304 cases of malaria among Delhi residents, but 71% still untraced

Of over 300 cases of malaria reported among residents of Delhi, officials of the civic bodies have been unable to trace more than 71%, to take appropriate anti-vector measures.

Three hundred cases of malaria have been reported among Delhi residents, of which 150 were recorded in the first three weeks of September, according to the weekly report released by the North Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Monday.

Delhi, conventionally a state with a lower malaria count, aims to eliminate local transmission of the disease by next year. Across the country, 132,968 cases of malaria and 27 deaths have been recorded till July, according to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP).

“Whenever a positive dengue case is reported, our officers go to the location and take a detailed history of the patient. This helps us determine whether the person actually lives there and whether they travelled somewhere during the incubation period, for usually a week or two. When we find cases from Delhi, we check about 50 to 100 houses nearby to see whether there is breeding, and spray insecticides and take other measures, to prevent the infection carrying mosquitoes from spreading it,” said Dr Ashok Rawat, district health officer, North Corporation.

In cases where patients travel from neighbouring states to Delhi for treatment, corporation officials write to district authorities concerned to carry out vector-control measures. Another 373 such cases were reported from Delhi hospitals till September 21, according to the report.

The number of malaria cases that have gone untraced have increased over the years. In 2016, only 6.51% cases could not be traced, which increased to 52.9% in 2017, 66.4% in 2018 and 71.7% so far this year.

This is likely due to a staff shortage in the corporations.

“There has been staff shortage in the department so far and appropriate steps were not taken to fill up the posts. Against the 97 sanctioned posts for employees who carry out such investigations, we had 14 people. Around 29 people were promoted internally a couple of months, but there is still a shortage,” said a senior official from the north corporation, on the condition of anonymity.

To ensure that cases get traced easily, corporation officials have now asked hospitals to ensure that a working number of the patient is maintained in records.

“Usually, most malaria patients go to the out-patient clinics and their address is not recorded. Hence, there are several cases we are unable to trace. That is why we have asked hospitals to maintain a record of a phone number for all patients, but it is not always followed,” said Dr Rawat.

The corporation is also in the process of making malaria a notifiable disease, meaning all hospitals — including private ones — have to report any malaria patient to the respective civic body they treat to improve the surveillance system.

“Not being able to trace patients does hamper the aim of elimination. The surveillance system needs to be galvanised to ensure that every last case can be traced. But simply knowing where a patient lives is not enough. Apart from verifying whether the patient is from Delhi, we must know whether they travelled somewhere else and got the infection, detailed entomological studies are also needed,” said Dr PL Joshi, former director, NVBDCP.

“Entomologists or scientists who study insects need to see whether the mosquito population — anopheles, in the case of Delhi — is present in an area. And, if they are, whether they carry the malaria parasite or not. This helps in establishing whether a case is indigenous or not. There is a lot of slackness when it comes to malaria in Delhi, with the focus on dengue instead,” he said.

Till September 21, 217 cases of dengue and 74 of chikungunya have been recorded in the city, according to the report.

First Published: Sep 23, 2019 22:38 IST