Health Ministry assures funds to States for disease management

Giving this assurance in Lok Sabha on Friday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the department of health and family welfare will continue providing technical and financial support to all States and UTs under the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP), as part of National Health Mission (NHM), based on the proposals received from them.

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday said that no conclusive evidence has been found to suggest that simultaneous Covid-19 infection and any vector-borne diseases can be fatal.

Giving this assurance in Lok Sabha on Friday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the department of health and family welfare will continue providing technical and financial support to all States and UTs under the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP), as part of National Health Mission (NHM), based on the proposals received from them.

Health Ministry statistics said that in 2020, 99.97 per cent malaria cases were reported to have recovered after treatment. The number of Malaria cases and deaths has been constantly declining in the country. There is 84.4 percent reduction in malaria cases and 83.6 percent reduction in malaria deaths in the year 2020 as compared to 2015.

“99.82 percent of cases recovered from Dengue in 2020. States and UTs have reported 100 percent recovery from Chikungunya. Till date, there is no death reported by any State and UT due to Chikungunya,” said Mandaviya.

Aware of the fact that vector-borne diseases appear in the rainy months between June and September, Mandaviya said that a massive awareness campaign has been initiated to fight against such disease in the community.

As per the statistics Chhattisgarh (10,347), Odisha (6,260) and Jharkhand (3,436) are the top three States registering maximum malaria cases this year. Similarly, Tamil Nadu (2,062), Kerala (1,596) and Karnataka (1,203) are the top three States witnessing maximum number of dengue cases this year.

As many as 18 deaths took place due to malaria and four deaths took place due to dengue across the country this year.

The health ministry further informed in the Lok Sabha that 46,764 mucormycosis or black fungus have been reported till July 28.

Maharashtra (9,654), Gujarat (6,846) and Andhra Pradesh (4,209) are the three States with maximum number of such cases.

“Mucormycosis has,been found to be causally associated with hyperglycemia (due to new onset or pre-existing diabetes or steroid induced), irrational use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, co-morbidities such as hematological malignancies, use of immunosuppressants, etc. Mucormycosis cases being reported by the states and UTs peaked in the latter half of May this year and are now showing a declining trend,” the ministry said.