Delhi's Morbidity Rate Nearly One-sixth of National Average

New Delhi: People in Delhi are healthier. The morbidity rate in the Indian capital is 17 per thousand people as compared to 99 at the national level, a government study said Thursday.

The report - Morbidity, Healthcare and condition of Aged persons in Delhi - prepared by the directorate of economics and statistics of the state revealed that the proportion of ailing persons in Delhi is the lowest among all the states.

"The morbidity rate in Delhi was estimated at 17 per thousand people as compared to 99 at the national level, 107 in Punjab, 87 in Haryana, 72 in Rajasthan, 108 in Uttar Pradesh," said Delhi Finance and Planning Minister A.K. Walia after releasing the report here Thursday evening.

Walia said morbidity in Delhi in the age group of 0-14 years was 18 per thousand and 9 in the age group of 15-29 years, 12 in the age group of 30-44 years, 29 in the age group of 45-59 years and 53 in the age group of 60 years and above.

The percentage of persons reported ill in Delhi reduced from 3.1 percent in 1995-96 to 1.7 percent during 2004. However, at the national level, the percentage of people reported ill increased from 4.1 percent to 9.9 percent during the corresponding period, the report underlined.

The survey reveals that in 18 percent of the total outdoor cases, treatment was taken from the government hospitals and the average expenditure for each case on treatment was Rs.545.

Total number of cases of hospitalization was estimated at 253,000. The rate of hospitalization in the case of male is 16 per thousand and in the case of female, 17 per thousand.

Out of 253,000 people, 119,000 were hospitalized in government-run hospitals and 134,000 in private hospitals.

In public hospitals, 89 percent were admitted in free wards and remaining in paying general wards or special wards. Whereas, in private hospitals, only 3 percent were in free wards and the remaining were in paying wards.

The average duration of stay in hospitals in a year was 10 days. The maximum cases of hospitalization was due to heart disease (12.4 percent) followed by 9.7 percent due to accident, 9.5 percent due to fever of unknown origin, 8.3 percent due to diarrhea, 6.1 percent due to kidney, 4.6 percent due to cancer, 3.9 percent due to hypertension and 2.4 percent due to neurological problems.

Walia also disclosed that the average total expenditure per hospitalization in government-run hospitals was Rs.8,161 compared to Rs.33,779 in private hospitals. However, at the national level, average expenditure per hospitalization in government hospitals was Rs.3,410 and in private hospitals Rs.8,738.

Source-IANS
SRM