DC Ibrahim declares war against malaria

MANGALURU : Dakshina Kannada district administration has served a notice to the department of health and family welfare and Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), directing them to come up with an effective plan to curb malaria. At a review meeting on Thursday, deputy commissioner AB Ibrahim instructed the departments to think of initiatives to reduce the spread of this vector-born disease. He pointed out that migrant labourers who work at construction sites, dotting the city, are more prone to malaria. Ibrahim said, "Neither the MCC nor the health department seem to have a clue of how to rein in malaria cases. Most of the migrant labourers in the district reside in surroundings where mosquitoes breed, and it is only natural that majority of these workers succumb to the vector-borne disease," he said. He added that the disease cannot be rooted out unless the two departments have an actionable plan. Directing the departments to declare a war on malaria, he directed the department to use modern technology to ensure that blood smear test reports from over 80 blood testing laboratories in the city reach them without any delay. In 2014, when blood smears were drawn from 3,43,748 persons in Dakshina Kannada district, 1,432 were found carrying malarial parasites. During the same period, when blood smears were drawn from 70,968 people in MCC limits, 7,360 persons tested positive for malaria. This year, of the 90,989 blood smears drawn in DK till April, 1,432 tested positive for malaria. And in MCC limits, of the 22,342 blood smears drawn, 1,296 were tested positive for malaria. Dr Ramakrishna, district health and family welfare officer, said four persons had succumbed to malaria in the district in 2015. One each at Wenlock hospital and Father Muller Medical College Hospital, and two in Kasturba Medical College Hospital died of the vector-borne disease. MCC health officer Dr Manjayya Shetty said cases of malaria have declined by 2.2% this year, when compared to last year and efforts are on to reduce it. Dr Arun Kumar, district malaria officer, was also present at the review meet. -TOI