The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Health insurance must to tackle maladies like chikungunya, says study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Health insurance must to tackle maladies like chikungunya, says study

Special Correspondent

State badly needs a good centre for virology tests

Financial distress to low income families
Patients efficiency has decreased by 20%

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A study on the socio-economic and health impact of the chikungunya outbreak has stressed the need for immediate implementation of a social health insurance scheme to ensure that families affected by such maladies do not find themselves financially devastated.

The study, conducted jointly by the Department of Futures Studies, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Virology Institute, Pune, N.S. Memorial Hospital, Kollam, Population Health and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, and Knowledge Synergy Systems, Thiruvananthapuram, found that there was a high incidence of chikungunya among low income families and that the phenomenon had a highly regressive impact on the well being of society at large and the low income families in particular.

Giving details of the findings at a news conference here on Wednesday, K.T. Shenoy, director, Population Health and Research Institute, and V. Nanda Mohan, Head, Department of Future Studies, said that in more than 50 per cent of sample cases of households surveyed by them, the medical expenses on chinkungunya treatment exceeded the meagre monthly family income and this had caused much distress in their families.

About one-third of the chikungunya infected persons’ efficiency had decreased by more than 20 per cent. The decrease in their efficiency/ability to work had badly affected their capacity to earn a living as the infection had caused muscle/joint pains which in some cases lasted for more than a year. The study also found that the impact of chikungunya was particularly heavy on aged people, with negative consequences for their lifespan, Dr. Shenoy and Prof. Nanda Mohan pointed out.

Early diagnosis must

They felt it was shameful that the State lacked a good centre for virology tests and added that their interactions with the experts from the Virology Institute had revealed that on most occasions, the virus in the blood sample taken from the State to the institute ceased to exist by the time the samples reached there resulting in negative results even in positive cases. Early diagnosis and immediate eradication of the virus was absolutely essential and this called for the establishment of virology centres like the one in Pune in different parts of the country, especially in a high density State like Kerala.

As the incidence of chikungunya was significantly high during monsoon, it can cause a chaotic situation if not managed properly on a war-footing, they said.

The sample survey of households forming part of the study was conducted in September 2007 covering eight randomly selected panchayats, one ward from the Corporation of Kollam and one ward from the Paravoor Municipality. Altogether, 1,587 households were identified in a probability sampling strategy and trained volunteers visited the identified households and conducted a face-to-face interview among 6,779 dwelling individuals in these households. Of them, 2,588 males and 2,577 females had features of chikungunya infection.

Those with illness were older in age by a factor of six years and the average age was 36 in those with illness and 30 in those without signs of infection.

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