Face net for jawans to combat malaria

Aizawl, July 9 (UNI) In a bid to save thousands of jawans posted in remote NE region from the deadly Malaria, the Border Security Force has invented a unique mosquito net, which has become part of the force's most vital survival kit.

When A Jayapal, former commandant of the Tripura-Cachar-Mizoram (TCM) frontier of the BSF, saw his 'boys' dying of Malaria, he could not remain a mute spectator.

These frequent deaths spurred him to combat the 'enemy no. 1'.

and he came up with a unique 'face net', which could protect the personnel from mosquito bites at night.

Now his invention has become part of the BSF's survival kit across the NE region, particularly for those posted in the remote areas of Indo-Bangla border posts.

''We lost around 40 to 50 boys, including deputy commandant, assistant commandant, inspectors and jawans, in a single year, when I was in-charge of the Gokulnagar sector headquarters in TCM frontier,'' Mr Jayapal, now additional DIG (Prov), told UNI.

''The terrain, especially in NE region, made it difficult to get any medical help in case someone fell sick due to Malaria and the only option was to airlift the victim,'' he added, he won cash reward of Rs 5000 and the coveted Commendation Roll for this ingenious invention.

Conventional mosquito repellant lotions were also of not much use as the humid climate made the men prone to mosquito bites, he said adding that ''it was then that the idea to design a face net came to me''.

The net made of specially prepared material, is stitched all along the edges of the jawans's helmet, or jungle hat, and reaches down to below shoulder level.

At its lower end, the net is suspended by rows of dull black iron washers to increase the weight. The washers, or small iron rings, ensure that the veil-like face net stays in place close to the body instead of hanging free.

The BSF officer also claimed that after the jawans started using the latest 'face net' invention, death due to Malaria among the jawans has declined drastically.

Giving a bigger boost to the 'inventor' his model could now be adopted by the BSF and other paramilitary foces in Malaria-prone zone across the country.

Mr Jayapal said he perfected the model after several improvisations. ''Though our men began using it, we had to constantly think of ways of bettering it,'' he added.

''Many private companies are approaching me to attain the patent,'' he said adding that ''however, I could not decide on it as it is the BSF's invention.'' Both effective and popular, the face net is now widely used by BSF personnel in the NE region. The inventor Jayapaul also disclosed that he is working to invent 'body-net', which would be five times better than the existing 'face net'.

Going with the official statistics given by the BSF here, out of the total 4224 detected Malaria cases in 2005, among their jawans, 2,055 tested positive of Plasmodium Falciparum (PF) Malaria, 26 were affected with Plasmodium Vivax (PV) Malaria and the rest 2143 were detected with ordinary Malaria.

According to additional health director Dr Baruah, both PV and PF malarial cases are more dangerous than ordinary malarial virus because these immediately affect the brain and the chances of survival would be bleak if proper medicines were not administered in the right time.

UNI SNR PL MA VC1125