Malaria claims 28 lives in 2 months in Capital Complex

Itanagar, Jun 24 (UNI) Malaria has claimed 28 lives during the last two months in the twin capital cities of Naharlogun and Itanagar, according to Registrar-cum-secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Medical Council Dr Moji Jini.

During April 17 to June 24 the death toll has been recorded at ten in the General Hospital, Naharlogun, and 18 in Rama Krishna Mission Hospital here, Dr Jini said, adding most of the deaths were caused by cerebral malaria.

Expressing serious concern over the situation, Dr Jini said despite the anti-malaria campaign perhaps the laboratory technicians were not well trained to diagnose malaria by simple 'peripheral blood smear (PBS) examination' or they were reluctant to use this painstaking but more reliable and time-tested method to diagnose malaria.

The advanced and relatively reliable test called Quantitative Buffy Coat (QBC) was also not preferred as it involved costly infrastructure and qualified expert, he said.

The most unreliable rapid malaria test (RMT) has replaced the time-tested golden standard method or examining the PBS by an expert with the help of a good microscope to diagnose the disease, forcing the patients to bear the brunt of an incorrect picture of their health status, the doctor said.

Pointing out that RMT was devised for epidemiological study and research but not for clinical use, he appealed to the doctors as well as patients to avoid RMT. There are of course two types of RMT, of which the antigen-based test is slightly more reliable then the antibody based test.

However, the QBC process lights up the parasite through an agent added to the blood sample during examination, he said to justify its reliability.

Dr Taw Kaki, senior medicine specialist of the General Hospital, regretted the non-availability of expert lab technicians in the mushrooming private laboratories and even in government hospitals and their lackadaisical attitude in conducting tests. This, he felt, had turned RMT the number one practice in the Capital Complex as doctors had lost faith in the former test.

UNI XC PL RN1431