Malaria claims 58 in Arunachal

Itanagar, July 11 (UNI) Malaria has so far claimed 58 lives this monsoon in Arunachal, with fresh reports of ten more deaths at district hospital Seppa, the headquartres of East Kameng district. Hospital sources, while confirming that ten deaths have been registered during the last month, feared that toll could be higher in far flung and inaccessible areas. Earlier, Papum Pare district had recorded 31 malarial deaths while Tirap registered 17.

Every week one or two deaths are regularly registered at the hospital. Patients are normally brought to the hospital during the last stage of the epidemic and it becomes difficult to save them, sources said.

Informing that there was acute shortage of men and medicine at the hospital, especially of life-saving drugs like quinine, the sources said that patients had to buy the medicines from pharmacies, which were running out of stock. The health department needs to conduct an extensive survey in the area and take stock of the situation to arrest the further spread of the deadly disease.

The sources alleged that the district hospital has only four doctors, two of whom are at station and the other two almost always on leave due to shortage of accommodation.

Meanwhile, state health Director P P Chaliha informed that some problems had cropped up in posting of doctors and they were exploring the possibility of posting recently recruited doctors as an alternative.

UNI UPB SP MQA VA RS1305