To raise awareness about communicable and non-communicable diseases, the BMC will soon come out with a booklet, in association with the community medicine department of Sion Hospital. The booklet will contain ward-wise information about education and communication programmes related to diseases, viruses and lifestyle changes needed. The BMC also plans to collect ward-wise information on prevalent diseases that will help modify its healthcare infrastructure.
Additional municipal commissioner (health) Suresh Kakani said the BMC wants to make the city healthier, and the need of the hour is to raise awareness. “People should know the signs and symptoms they should look out for in case of health-related issues. All details will be promoted through social media, the platforms that citizens reach out to first,” he said.
Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at Bombay Hospital, said the BMC’s health initiatives will go a long way in forming a better health policy for the city. “The survey to find out disease prevalence will help future health policies. During the pandemic, we saw how non-communicable diseases played a key role. Knowing the health status of the city and empowering people on how to deal with various diseases will help in having a healthy Mumbai,” he said
Kakani said that during the pandemic, health has attained paramount importance. He added, “We have learnt that most of us cannot differentiate between communicable and non-communicable diseases due to which there is a delay in treatment, resulting in deterioration of health.” He said the plan is to reach out to more and more citizens through the booklet, for which the BMC has directed all ward officers to create a team with knowledge of outreach through social media.
