Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has stopped issuing its monthly bulletins, which reported disease cases, outbreaks, and maternal and infant mortality rates. The department has also stopped publishing its medical journal, which carried outcome studies of government schemes, epidemiological research and disease profiles. While govt says it did so to prevent misrepresentation of facts, public health experts say lack of transparency can do more harm.Officials said the government asked them to withdraw the monthly bulletins because the media misquoted data and misrepresented facts. “The numbers in the bulletin are the total cases that tested positive. They have to be compared with the total number tested and seasonal changes. Many times, stories published in the media don’t represent the actual situation. Some infections go up in summer, and some in winter. We cannot call them outbreaks without comparing them against the epidemiological trend,” said Director of Public Health Dr A Somasundaram.The Tamil Nadu Journal of Public Health and Medical Research, which gave the state information on diseases such as rabies and on the impact of schemes such as Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam, has also stopped publishing. The module for the monthly bulletins has been removed from the directorate’s website, and the last edition of the journal was the third volume of 2025.Public health experts said the move amounts to withholding information. They argued that the bulletins were among the few regular, public sources of state-level health data, used by researchers, clinicians and journalists to track trends and spot emerging outbreaks. “Without routine, published data, it becomes difficult to verify claims, identify problem districts or assess whether programmes are working,” said Dr J Amalorpavanathan, a former member of the State Planning Commission. He said the lack of transparency weakens surveillance and accountability, and erodes the credibility of a state long regarded as a public health leader.They urged the department to restore the bulletins and journal, and to publish data in a timely, accessible format. Regular disclosure, they said, is basic to public trust, particularly during seasonal outbreaks of dengue, influenza and other infections.
