For the upcoming monsoon season, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s health department has prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which will help in uniform diagnosis, investigation and treatment of diseases.

The SOP which is being circulated among the civic hospitals is a first step to ensure that there is no confusion in the diagnosis of mosquito-bite related ailments during monsoon.

The newly formed Epid committee has also established a protocol for handling monsoon related diseases. “We have also held sessions with private doctors and will continue to have them over the next few weeks,” said Dr Jairaj Thanekar, executive health officer, BMC. Last year, the BMC included malaria among the list of notified diseases. Hospitals across the city are expected to report to BMC diseases notified by it.

“We are also having briefing sessions with trust hospitals before monsoons,” said Dr Neera Kevalramani, epidemiology officer, BMC.

To address the large number of vector-borne diseases during monsoon, the civic administration has procured drugs amounting to Rs 1.5 crore and kits worth Rs 5 lakh for investigation. “We have also made additional provision for drugs which can be used for the monsoon related diseases,” said Dr Thanekar.

This month, there have been 1,764 cases of fever, 609 cases of gastroenteritis, seven cases of leptospirosis, four cases of dengue and 213 cases of malaria.

The civic administration has already identified vulnerable areas which are prone to monsoon related diseases and has accordingly trained its staff. It has also co-ordinated with NGOs, Indian Medical Associations and other doctors’ bodies.

Stand-alone health posts where OPD services may be required have also been kept ready.

The health department has also taken precautions to keep mosquito breeding in control. Under the detailed action plan, extensive pest control measures will be taken up during monsoon. Fogging activities in the evening will be conducted in case of requests by BMC corporators in their wards.