Instances of dengue in the city are on the rise, but staff shortage in the health department of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has hit the monitoring programme.

Over 70 cases of dengue and malaria have been detected at Fatehpura and over 10 cases detected in the Tarsali area in the last few days. However, while there seems to be no curb in the increasing numbers, the area-wise surveillance by the VMC has still not been able to keep pace with the increasing cases.

“The numbers are more because we are now getting reports not just from the government hospitals but also from many private hospitals and clinics. This has helped us in updating the various areas where there are sporadic cases of dengue. But due to lack of manpower, the surveillance of the areas has been going at a slow pace,” said a senior VMC health official. He added: “There are only about 30 people, including the biologists, entomologists and others, who are into surveillance. A few months ago, we had submitted a ward-wise list to the municipal commissioner informing him about the vacant posts of health officials, but there was no recruitment.”

Fatehpura, Gotri, Gorwa and Tarsali are areas that have reported most number of dengue cases lately. In October, the VMC had carried out surveillance in the slum pockets of the city when over 60,000 households were visited.

“The filaria department is understaffed and the VMC needs at least 250 members to carry out mass-level survey. The initial surveillance was possible because we had roped in community health and anganwadi workers. The VMC also gets people on contract, who are usually Harijans. Urban people do not allow them to enter their homes,” said Dr Girish Parekh, chairman of VMC health committee.