BENGALURU : At a time when there is a need to ramp up health facilities in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, it has come to light that four districts -- Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura and Ramanagara -- do not have full-fledged District Surveillance Units (DSU).
DSUs play a crucial role in every district, carrying out surveillance for both communicable and non-communicable diseases, including active and passive surveillance, monitoring outbreak of diseases, keeping track of media alerts on outbreaks, and conducting house-to-house surveys. During a pandemic, they play an even more essential role. However, in these four districts, a few crucial elements required for the proper functioning of a DSU are missing.
“In BBMP limits, there is no separate DSU team. While the unit has an epidemiologist and data entry operators, there are no lab technicians and microbiologists. To cater to a population of more than a crore, a lab and full-fledged DSU will be of help,” an official said. In Ramanagara, an acting District Surveillance Officer (DSO) has been deputed from another district as a permanent post has not been created here. The DSU has no epidemiologist, but has a lab technician and two microbiologists. A district official said that more hands will help them serve better.
In Chikkaballapura, a TB officer has been appointed DSO, and the district hospital lab is used for tests as there is no central lab. However, it has microbiologists, epidemiologists and other staffers. In Bengaluru Rural, a malaria officer has been deputed as DSO. While the centre has an epidemiologist, it has no microbiologists or lab technicians. As there is no central lab, samples are sent to Devanahalli General Hospital or the taluk hospital.
A former health department official said a DSU will help conduct passive surveillance -- surveillance through institutions -- and active surveillance -- surveillance done on field by health workers in which they visit 15-20 houses each day to check for communicable and non-communicable diseases and ante-natal and postnatal care. This is applicable to diseases like dengue, cholera, H1N1, HIV, malaria, chikungunya, typhoid, tuberculosis, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and more. Covid-19 has been added to the surveillance plan.
“Active surveillance for a disease like Covid-19 includes testing residents of houses surrounding the house of a Covid patient, tracing symptomatic persons, sending samples to the lab on time and ensuring the report is generated without delay, testing primary and secondary contacts, etc. This is not happening in these four districts. There is no central lab in Bengaluru and samples are sent to NIV, Nimhans, etc,” a health department source said.
“The cost of paying salaries can be borne by the National Health Mission. An investment of about Rs 1 crore needs to be made for each DSU,” the source said. Health Commissioner Dr K V Thrilok Chandra was not available for comment.