According to The Hindu Newspaper the public health department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) may soon appeal to the United Kingdom-based financiers of NGO Praja Foundation to stop funding the group.
Officials, who are looking into the NGO’s allegedly unscientific method of collecting data and misrepresentation of statistics, said they are going to take a legal course against the NGO for creating panic through their reports on public health.
“We are welcome to scrutiny, but only when the data collection and presentation follows necessary international and national guidelines, which even we follow while collecting this data. These white papers are prepared by unqualified personnel with no scientific background and don’t go through a technical advisory committee, which can confirm the statistics,” said Dr Santosh Revankar, deputy executive health officer, BMC.
Since May this year, the NGO has released papers on malnutrition, tuberculosis, malaria and dengue based on statistics accessed through Right To Information queries. The RTIs were filed with dispensaries, hospitals, health posts and health departments of BMC head office and ward offices. However, BMC officials claim the methodology used to collate the information and interpretation of data was unscientific and against World Health Organisation and national disease control guidelines.