MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES

DISEASES COMMON TO THE DISTRICT

The details given so far indicate that the diseases like cholera and small- pox prevail in the district. Diseases like Tuberculosis and Leprosy also prevail in the district besides, malaria, diarrhoea and dysentery, pneumonia and other diseases of the digestive system. As per the survey of slum areas of Wardha town and Sewagram, the incidence of leprosy in the district is 2 to 2.5 per cent and hence the district is considered as an endemic area.

To prevent the out-break of cholera, cholera inoculations are given. In addition measures are adopted to improve drinking water supply and sanitation. In 1965, 158,322 persons were given anti-cholera inoculations as against 313,370 in 1964 and 358,162 in 1963.

With a view to bringing under control, prevalence and frequency of small-pox in the district, the small-pox vaccination has been strictly adhered to by the district health authorities. Table Number 6 gives the tahsilwise statistics regarding vaccinations in Wardha district during 1963, 1964 and 1965.

TABLE No. 6.

VACCINATION STATISTICS, WARDHA DISTRICT [Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Government of Maharashtra.] (TAHSIL WISE), 1963-1965.

Similarly steps have been taken to bring under control the incidence of leprosy in the district. There are 14 leprosy survey, eradication and treatment units in the district. The following statement gives the number of cases registered and treated at 13 units in Wardha and Hinganghat tahsils from 1959 to 1964.

The unit at Arvi, established in 1964, covers the population of Arvi tahsil. Besides, the governmental efforts to minimise the incidence of leprosy, the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation and Dattapur Leprosy Colony are doing considerable work in that direction.

To prevent the spread of tuberculosis in epidemic form, the B. C. G. unit has been established with Nagpur as headquarters for Nagpur Division under the Supervising Medical Officer, B. C. G. Vaccination who is responsible to the Assistant Director of Public Health, B. C. G. Vaccination and T. B. Control Programme, Pune.

The following statement gives the details of the B. C. G. vaccination work done in the district since the commencement of the scheme up to 1957 and for the year 1964.

¹ Annual Public Health Report, Bombay State, 1957.

² Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Government of Maharashtra.

However, in spite of the measures taken to reduce the incidence of the disease, it still prevails in the rural areas of the district though on a reduced scale comparatively.

A tuberculosis clinic has been started at the K. E. M. General Hospital at Wardha. It treated indoor and outdoor patients numbering 32,032, 2,232, 1,456, and 2,576 in 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964, respectively.

During 1957, 5,526 deaths were reported due to malaria in Wardha district. The higher incidence of deaths from malaria were reported from the urban areas of Hinganghat which numbered 214.

Under the national malaria control programme in the year 1957-58 a population of 25,448 was covered with two rounds, out of the total population of the district of 538,903 excluding the population of large municipal towns. During the same year D. D. T. spraying operations were performed in 31,677 houses. In the district, in Sewagram area, 946 children were examined under the annual spleen surveys, 1957-58. The spleen rate for the district worked at 1.3.

TOP