A CITY ALWAYS IN SICK BAY

A CITY ALWAYS IN SICK BAY
Bangalore faces a double whammy — non-communicable as well as communicable diseases are taking a heavy toll of its denizens
The Times of India

After a cup of piping hot filter coffee, Anand and Sureka would leave their swish apartment on Airport Road at 8 am. This DINK couple would then wend their way through crawling traffic to reach their offices at least 25 kms away.

While Anand is a marketing head at a leading private financial firm, Sureka is a team leader in a trans-national software company. Their work schedules are packed with meetings and deadlines. Several cups of coffee or tea and cigarettes keep their adrenaline pumping. The first meal of the day is ordered from the nearest fast-food outlet — usually, a pizza or a burger, French fries and a bottle of aerated drink. When they decide to call it a day, the couple meets their friends for a drink at a restaurant and orders their favourite fatty food.

For over a month now, this couple in their early twenties couldn’t go to work. Not only did they lose a good chunk of their handsome salaries, but had to spend several days in a private hospital. “It was so much trouble and misery,’’ recalls Sureka, who is yet to rejoin work. “We had challenging jobs and were really happy with the salary. We always thought diseases were someone else’s problem. It’s not hard to understand how we landed in hospital.’’ But their doctors aren’t surprised. They diagnosed that she was suffering from acute gastroenteritic infection and chronic respiratory tract infection. Anand had similar problems. He had high blood pressure and diabetes. “This couple are only representative of a larger group in the city, who face similar problems — a high risk of both communicable and non-communicable disease. Worse, the situation remains the same, cutting across different income groups,’’ says Dr Ramana Rao, consultant physician, Wockhardt Hospital. There are no statistics available with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) which is incharge of public health in the city. The reasons include lack of co-ordination and networking within various government and external agencies and lack of strict implementation of existing laws to protect public health.

For instance, though the rule book makes it mandatory for the hotel industry to supply free and safe drinking water, most hotels, even the famous and crowded coffee outlets, give it a go-by. “They sell mineral water bottles. If anyone asks for water, it is given straight from the tap,’’ says BMP health officer Dr Thandavamurthy. Surprisingly, the officials who are aware of these problems haven’t booked any hotels/cafes for the violation.

The common diseases that trouble the city include respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis, cholera, dengue, malaria, diabetes, hypertension and associated risks. Almost all hospitals — government or private — are forever crowded with patients. Doctors at almost every major hospital — Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Bowring Hospital, MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital, Wockhardt Heart Hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya — confirm that the incidence of non-communicable diseases have tripled in the last decade.

The medical records at the Epidemic Diseases Hospital points to an average of 15 admissions for gastroenteritic infections and at least two cholera cases each day through the year. After heavy rain, it raises up to 26 cases of gastroenteritis per day and several more cholera cases.

“With the recent rain, we had at least 40 in-patients, including 25 admissions, every day,’’ said Dr Thiagaraja, who spearheads the Epidemic Diseases Hospital.

Even these, according to Dr Thandavamurthy, do not give the true picture of the city’s health. The Public Health Act makes it mandatory for private practitioners to report the scheduled diseases. Barring major hospitals, no one does this. “As healthcare workers, we can’t prevent the condition from worsening if we are not informed about the existing danger. And outbreaks happen,’’ admits Dr Thandavamurthy.

Says Dr B J Mahendra of the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, “If Indians are genetically prone to get diabetes and cardiac diseases at least 10 years ahead of their Western counterparts, there is a steep increase in the number of cases of communicable diseases, most of which have been eliminated by developed countries.” Almost every disease, he says, is associated with the way of life. “Like the rapidly changing lifestyle, we are now beginning to see a fast change in the disease profile as well. Like the non-communicable diseases, we begin to notice most communicable diseases throughout the year,’’ he says.