Lost in translation, malaria yet to be notified in state

Nagpur: Although Maharashtra had decided to make malaria a notifiable disease two year before the recent union health ministry notification, the state is yet to actually do so. A proposal for this has been awaiting translation into Marathi for the past two years!

The file is in the administrative section and will be put up before the cabinet at the earliest, said officials. TOI had contacted the state health department on Monday to ask about the status of the proposal after union health minister Harsha Vardhan gave a call to declare dengue and malaria as notifiable diseases on July 4.

It was learnt that the department had sent the proposal to make malaria a notifiable disease for better control of the disease about two years ago, while dengue had been made a notifiable disease in 2016. A very senior government official said the proposal was awaiting translation into Marathi for two years. He, however, sought time to confirm the status of the proposal.

Anup Kumar Yadav, director state health department, too sought time till Tuesday, when he said that the proposal had already reached the administration section after clearance from the legal and judiciary section. He clarified that the health department had sent the proposal in September 2018 and not two years back. But even if the proposal was sent last September, 10 months is too long a time for translation. It appears that things began moving after TOI approached the department on Monday.

Making malaria a notifiable disease will help the state monitor the disease much better and help curb it too. “When a disease is made notifiable, besides the government set up, every private doctor is expected to report the disease cases to the state health department. This naturally helps in assessing the extent of disease and controlling it. It is especially true for vector borne diseases, which can take epidemic form after outbreak at some places,” said Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, deputy director health services (DDHS), Nagpur circle.

Some countries like UK have eradicated malaria completely, while countries like India and South Africa have huge number of patients every year. The mortality rate of malaria is very high in India. WHO India reports there are 1.5 crore patients annually. Of these 19,500 to 20,000 patients die every year whereas the disease is completely preventable.

Since Maharashtra is known for better health services compared to many states in the country, experts feel making malaria a notifiable disease will help in better management of the disease, especially in rural areas, where it occurs in endemic form.