View source for Healthcare and public health: Delhi

==2014- Aug 2019==
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F08%2F11&entity=Ar00805&sk=9592725F&mode=text  Paras Singh, August 11, 2019: ''The Times of India'']

[[File: Malaria in Delhi, 2014- Aug 2019.jpg|Malaria in Delhi, 2014- Aug 2019  <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F08%2F11&entity=Ar00805&sk=9592725F&mode=text  Paras Singh, August 11, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]

Malaria may soon be re-categorised as a ‘dangerous disease’ like tuberculosis, plague, small pox or leprosy in the capital. But the move is on the table not because the disease has acquired an epidemic proportion or a new dangerous strain has been found. Rather, through this step, South Delhi Municipal Corporation wants to improve the screening mechanism to eradicate the disease completely from the city.

Once the corporation, the coordinating civic body for implementing the National Malaria Eradication Programme in Delhi, empowers the commissioner to declare a disease as ‘dangerous’, it becomes obligatory for all medical practitioners, clinics and private hospitals to report and give information about all such patients arriving at their facilities, explained a senior public health official.

The municipal corporations have been asked to eradicate malaria from the city by 2022 and this move is expected to push the drive, the official said. “Under the eradication programme, Delhi falls in the first phase as the incidence is already low in the city. The whole country is to be declared malariafree by 2030,” he added.

Currently, the corporations only get the data related to the mosquito-borne diseases from 36 hospitals under the sentinel scheme. The obligatory reportage will improve mapping of malaria cases and discourage incomplete treatment, which leads to development of resistance against drugs. “As malaria is not considered risky, most cases do not get reported. Doctors give medicines for four-five days, which cures the symptoms but traces of the parasite stay in the liver. A full 14-day radical treatment has to be followed for its complete removal from the system,” another official said.

The civic data shows that Delhi reported just 201 cases of malaria in 2014, which rose to 359 in 2015, 454 in 2016 and 577 in 2017. Last year, 473 cases were reported while the count at the onset of this monsoon was around 83.

An analysis of one year’s mosquito breeding data from the three corporations reveals that peri-domestic containers — vase, flower pots, bird pots, tins, tyres and water fountains — account for the largest chunk of the mosquito breeding sites (38%). Domestic water storage containers — drums, buckets, jerry cans etc — come second at 33%. Desert coolers, used in Delhi in large numbers, and overhead tanks come at the third and fourth spots, respectively.

Eradication will still be a huge task, an official pointed out. The re-designation process is in the final stage of approval.“Once the commissioner approves it, the proposal will be placed in the House. As this is in alignment with the central policy, we expect the proposal to sail through,” he added.

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HEALTHCARE AND PUBLIC HEALTH: DELHI]]