Now Reading: Heart attacks kill 16,000-plus in Mumbai every year, cancer toll nears 10,000
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Heart attacks kill 16,000-plus in Mumbai every year, cancer toll nears 10,000
Heart attacks kill 16,000-plus in Mumbai every year, cancer toll nears 10,000
Heart disease and cancer remain Mumbai's top killers, with over 16,000 deaths from heart attacks recorded annually and cancer claiming nearly 10,000 lives in 2023, according to city mortality data released by…
Heart disease and cancer remain Mumbai's top killers, with over 16,000 deaths from heart attacks recorded annually and cancer claiming nearly 10,000 lives in 2023, according to city mortality data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Tuberculosis deaths fell to 2,418 in 2023 from 3,269 in 2021, but provisional figures for 2024 show 2,671 TB deaths. Kidney failure deaths rose steadily, from 1,638 in 2021 to 2,121 in 2023. The largest category, 'any other disease', accounts for more than 50,000 deaths each year and includes ageing-related deaths. BMC's executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah said data for 2024 and 2025 is raw and still pending verification by death audit committees.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The data, drawn from hospital returns and provisional for 2024, shows non-communicable diseases (NCDs) dominate Mumbai's death toll, with cardiovascular deaths alone exceeding 16,000 annually. This mirrors the national pattern where NCDs account for 63% of all deaths, per the WHO. However, the large 'any other disease' category, over 50,000 deaths yearly, raises questions about diagnostic precision and certification standards in city hospitals. The BMC's death audit committees, which verify infectious disease deaths, may not scrutinise this catch-all bucket. If even a fraction of those unverified deaths hide preventable causes like hypertension or diabetes, the city's public health response is being calibrated on incomplete numbers. The next audit cycle for 2024 data ends in mid-2025, and that revision will tell if the provisional NCD figures hold.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
