MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES

DISEASES COMMON TO THE DISTRICT

The following table gives the number of deaths in Sangli district due to different causes in 1957 and 1961: —

Fever.

Though the frequency of this disease has reduced consider ably the findings of the Annual Public Health Report threw searching light upon the state of public health viewed in the present context. "The influenza epidemic" says the Annual Public Health Report of the Bombay State for 1957 ''which swept the whole country, particularly the urban population, accounted for a high  morbidity   rate, the mortality being practically nil......... ". As was the case with the State as a" whole, Sangli district also showed heavy mortality due to fevers. However, about this also the Report states that 'Fevers' and 'other causes' accounted for about 75 per cent of the total deaths in the State. This high percentage is evidently due to tendency on the part of the village officers to show the cause of death as fevers or other causes in the absence of easily determinable causes of death. During the year, 1957 deaths under the group 'fevers' included causes such as malaria, typhoid fever, measles, etc., and a large number of unclassified fevers as 'other fevers'. The death rate due to fevers was 5.5 (per mille) for the whole State. The report also mentions that the disease prevailed in the former Bombay State more or less throughout the year. In Sangli district, 35 villages reported deaths from cholera.

Smallpox.

The report mentions that smallpox was sporadic in the district besides a few other districts. That accounts, for 25 deaths due to smallpox during the year under question. Nine villages from the district reported deaths from smallpox.

Influenza.

Influenza spread in epidemic form throughout the Bombay Start in 1957. All the districts in the State were more or less affected by the disease and Sangli district was not an exception. The Government immediately promulgated temporary Influenza Regulations and applied them to all the districts of the State. As a result of the stringent measures, it was possible to keep the mortality rate at the lowest possible level, i.e., only 0.1 per cent. By giving prompt treatment to the influenza cases, in the initial stages, nearer their homes, it was possible to avert these cases from developing complications and by isolating and treating complicated influenza cases in temporary hospitals, it was possible to reduce the fatality amongst even serious cases. 25 deaths were reported due to influenza in the district. The number from pneumonia which is generally the after stage of influenza stands at 104.

TOP