66% drop in funds in 3 years has crippled war on dengue in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The war against dengue and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and chikungunya appears to have been lost in Delhi. While the focus has been on the paucity of hospital beds for dengue patients, no one is asking the real question: what has been done to prevent the outbreak of vector-borne diseases, year after year? Why have things come to this pass?

Far from girding up for the war, in the last three years there has been an alarming decline in the allocation of funds for prevention of these diseases. This appears to be the result of a squeeze on the spending on welfare programmes, including disease control. Between 2012 and 2015, central government allocation to Delhi for controlling vector-borne diseases came down from about Rs 50 crore to just Rs 17 crore.



This squeeze on spending has got passed downwards. The Delhi government, in turn, allocated a smaller proportion of its funds to the three municipal corporations. The share of funds for controlling malaria and dengue went down from about 10 per cent of the total expenditure by the directorate of health services to just short of 5 per cent in the same period.

The three municipal corporations of Delhi are in charge of the frontline fight against mosquitoes. Faced with an increasing population, a large proportion of which stays in colonies with poor drainage and garbage disposal, the corporations are badly cash-strapped. So, less funds for mosquito control means less manpower, less chemical spraying and less checking.

And all this is when we are not even talking about ghost employees, corruption and an extreme culture of negligence.

In this situation, it is no surprise that recurrent outbreaks of dengue and malaria are the norm in Delhi. Currently, there is public alarm and outrage over dengue. But conditions are conducive for many other diseases including tuberculosis, pneumonia, gastroenteritis etc.

The Delhi Health Society, a body set up by the state government to channelize funds received from the central ministry of health, had asked for Rs 2.5 crore to fight dengue and malaria in 2015-16. This included ELISA kits for testing, public awareness programmes, case management and so on. What they got was Rs 1.25 crore. For malaria, DHS had asked for Rs 1.3 crore but got Rs 25 lakh.

There is considerable mismanagement at the state level too. The state government had not spent Rs 19 crore from the previous year. In fact, every year there is some unspent balance which has to be accommodated in the coming year — an indication of the negligent manner in which the state government views the problem.

While the AAP state government has been patting its back for increasing the health spend in Delhi, the fight against dengue and malaria appears to have been thought to be routine. Paltry increases have actually meant a declining priority.

At the corporation level, this fund crunch shows up in lack of manpower. In 2014-15, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation had hired 710 domestic breeding checkers (DBC) who go around checking water accumulation in homes. But out of seven senior malaria inspectors, six were not appointed. Similarly, of 65 sanctioned posts of malaria inspectors, 24 were vacant and out of 153 assistant malaria inspectors, 50 posts were unfilled.

A health official in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, who didn't want to be identified, said that various larvicides and insecticides are in short supply, pumps and fogging machines are insufficient and large areas remain untouched by any counter-mosquito strategy.

Now you know why Delhi is hopelessly behind in its war against dengue and malaria.