BMC death data throws up major mismatch in malaria, dengue figures

A recent discrepancy has come to light in the Mumbai BMC's reporting of malaria and dengue deaths, as revealed through Right to Information (RTI) data. According to data obtained by activist Chetan Kothari, the civic body recorded 93 malaria deaths and 201 dengue deaths in 2024 via its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coded table.

However, the BMC's disease-wise figures for the same year only list seven malaria and five dengue deaths. This disparity is not isolated to 2024, as similar gaps are discernible in previous years. For instance, the disease-wise data shows only one malaria and two dengue deaths in 2023, compared to the higher figures in the BMC's table.

The same pattern continues into the provisional 2025 data, where the BMC reported 196 malaria and 169 dengue deaths, albeit marked as provisional. The BMC Executive Health Officer, Dr Daksha Shah, acknowledged the discrepancy, stating that it is being scrutinized as part of a data revision process, with cross-checking ongoing to detect any errors.

It's worth noting that 2025 also saw a rise in the burden of non-communicable diseases, with cancer claiming 10,004 lives, heart attack causing 9,453 deaths, and tuberculosis deaths increasing by 14.5 percent from 3,031 in 2024 to 3,472 in 2025. Shah noted that the BMC is enhancing cancer care and is introducing yoga centers and dietitian services for lifestyle management.

For tuberculosis, she mentioned that newer treatment methods have raised the BMC's reported cure rate from approximately 40 percent to 80 percent over the past seven to eight years.