‘Condition of our land is pathetic’

‘Condition of our land is pathetic’
The Times of India

The software czars of Bangalore may have by now got used to innovative ways of impressing multinational clients amidst the city’s crumbling infrastructure. But soon they would have to find ways to stay in good health too.

During the recent spell of rain, South and North Bangalore went under water. And the areas included upper middle class residential localities like J P Nagar and H S R Layout as well. Clogged drains forced sewerage to gush into posh houses.

The unhygienic state of the environment is taking its toll, and the victims are not just the poor but the rich too. No good roads, no proper drainage, no clean drinking water, highly polluted air. The poor are the worst affected. In their struggle for existence the poor overlook symptoms of life-threatening diseases. Dr H M V Sharma, former district surgeon and former medical officer of Epidemic Diseases Hospital isn’t surprised that so many people in India’s IT capital fall sick every other day. “Bangalore’s air, land and water are not healthy, and these are the basic requirements for healthy living.”

Says Dr Sharma, “There is a high level of mostly carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, because of the increasing number of vehicles. City’s growth is not regulated. Encroachments and squalor are common. The British laid some of the water and sewerage pipes, which have never been replaced. In some places like Vibhutipura in K R Puram, the two pipes merge at some points.”

The deteriorating standards are corroborated by Dr Thiagaraja, who heads the Epidemics Diseases Hospital. “Close to one-third of the people suffer from bronchitis, mainly due to pollution. The hospital has recorded a 30 to 40 per cent increase in admission last month. Most of the patients suffer from water-borne diseases.”

Dr B J Mahendra, KIMS, attributes the health problems to lack of coordination. “The city’s health is influenced by factors like safe water, good sanitation, clean air, good nutrition, healthy lifestyle, etc. These are the responsibilities of a number of departments that do not necessarily coordinate and the health officials are left to answer bad situations.” He says the health standards of the affluent sections of Bangalore too are deteriorating. But the rich contract non-communicable diseases and they are spared from the diseases that plague the poor.

Ramesh Ramanathan of the NGO, Janaagraha, says, “All sections of people are vulnerable, but the implications of the vulnerability are far greater for the poor. The rich have the resources to tackle problems of ill health. But that is not the case with the lower middle class.”

Making this worse is the absence of an easily accessible set of data on the health condition of city dwellers. “There is a problem of multiplicity,” says Dr Mahendra. “Most of the statistics comes from government hospitals. And, again you have corporation hospitals and primary health centres. There is no system in place wherein a periodic survey is carried out and data is collected from all hospitals.”

Dr N Girish of NIMHANS calls for a proper surveillance mechanism. “When we talk of vulnerable sections, it’s mostly a personal guesswork rather than one based on some detailed survey. In Bangalore, often the extent of an epidemic is judged from the number of patients at one hospital, Epidemic Diseases Hospitals. That can hardly be a representation for the whole city.”