Mumbai: The BMC will soon start India’s first palliative care ward for tuberculosis patients at its hospital in Sewri. Palliative care is considered a necessary component in the global strategy against TB but was thus far missing in India, a senior health official said.

Sources informed the FPJ that the ward will be housed in the new building and will have an equal number of beds for both men and women. The official added that they are finalising the guidelines for eligibility.

Renowned pulmonologist and epidemiologist Dr Lancelot Pinto, PD Hinduja Hospital-Mahim, said palliative care across all disciplines in medicine is always a good idea, especially in diseases that leave patients “with a lot of disability and scarring”.

He said, “In India, we often see TB patients in an advanced stage, needing palliative care. The treatment is not just about curing or killing bacteria, but also taking care of symptoms like breathlessness.” He, however, clarified that palliative care does not mean end-of-life.

Pinto said palliative care is helpful when TB is diagnosed late and doctors know that the patient’s lungs are not going to heal and are badly scarred.

Lauding the BMC’s plan, public health specialist and convenor of Survivors Against TB, , Chapal Mehra, said such a centre is the need of the hour in a city like Mumbai where the TB burden is very high.

Sewri TB Hospital, which is officially called Group of TB Hospitals, is Asia’s largest TB hospital. It was inaugurated in 1942 and has 1,000 beds. At any given point, it has more than 800-bed occupancy; 240 beds are reserved for multi-drug resistant TB patients.

New TB cases in Mumbai have reached pre-pandemic levels for the second consecutive year, with 63,644 new cases recorded in 2023. The increase is attributed to better search and diagnostics efforts by health officials.

Mumbai: The city woke up to a haze-filled atmosphere in the morning on Thursday (November 16). It is worth mentioning that Mumbai has been reeling under high air pollution in recent days due to the construction activities at various sites. The situation has also been aggravated by the use of fireworks during Diwali celebrations. A thick layer of haze lingered in the air in Mumbai this morning.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted partially cloudy skies in the city and suburbs in the morning today.

The weather agency also predicted that the city and suburbs will continue to see cloudy skies towards the afternoon and by the evening. The temperatures on Wednesday are likely to be between 26°C to 33°C.

Causes of pollution

The primary causes of outdoor air pollution are solid, liquid particles called aerosols & gase from vehicle emissions, construction activities, factories, burning stubble & fossil fuels and wildfire, etc.

The main causes of indoor air pollution are harmful gases from cooking fuels (such as wood, crop wastes, charcoal, coal and dung), damp, mould smoke, chemicals from cleaning materials, etc.

Even as lakhs of people were sitting under the scorching sun at the Khargar International Corporate Park ground last Sunday to witness the Maharashtra Bhushan award event, about 900 persons, including VIPs, were enjoying a lavish buffet laid out in an air-conditioned palace-like lounge behind the dais. The menu included fresh white dhoklas, cocktail batawadas, aluwadi, paneer masala, pitla, matki usal, special pulao, two types of dal, basmati jeera rice, puri, chapati, badam halwa, aamras, shrikhand, ice creams – gadbad, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, and chilled soft drinks, all unlimited and at the taxpayers’ expense.

Official expenditure on the program was Rs.13.50 crore

The VIPs were given golden color spoons to gorge on the lavish spread. One of the guests told on Thursday that each plate cost ₹1,000. Minister for Culture Sudhir Mungantiwar was one of the VIPs seen in the special lounge. The official expenditure on the program was ₹13.50 crore, but if the money spent on resurfacing the roads, etc., is taken into account, the expense could easily be ₹25 crore.

Arrangements for water were not only inadequate

Outside, there was not even a shade for the visitors who were all followers of Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, who was the recipient of the government award. Arrangements for water were not only inadequate but also not placed at vantage points. Unable to bear the heat, as many as 14 persons died of dehydration. Mungantiwar effectively blamed Dharmadhikari since it was the “social reformer” who suggested the time at 11.00 a.m. Incidentally, Dharmakari spoke for one hour even as his followers were suffering from the blazing heat with nothing to cover their heads. The government has asked the Revenue Secretary Nitin Kareer to probe the tragedy.

Meanwhile, a lawyer from Navi Mumbai, Sachin Thorat (43), has written to the Khargar police to register his FIR against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Mungantiwar, and others connected with the organization of the awards function. He told FPJ on Thursday that he will file a private complaint with a local court under section 156 (3) of the CrPC if his FIR is not registered in the next few days.