Plane,chopper relief from Malaria victims

Aizawl, Dec 5 (UNI) BSF personnel posted along the Indo-Bangla border can now heave a sigh of relief as an airplane and a helicopter can instantly take the affected to an infirmary.

For the Border Security Force at this stretch the enemy is not from across the border but against malaria that wreaks havoc among soldiers guarding the border on the unfriendly terrain.

The reason is all too evident because more than 5000 jawans, posted near the border area of Lunglei, Tuirial, Demagiri, Tlabung Madpara of the state's western belt tested malaria positive within an year.

BSF DIG M.A.Khan told UNI here today that the terrian also made it difficult to get any medical help and the only option was to airlift the victims with the help of airforce or any other private airlines, which cost lakhs.

''More than 100 jawans have already lost their lives due to malaria within a span of three years,'' he added.

''Now for the first time, the BSF Air Wing has started its flight and chopper operations to Mizoram, especially for the jawans, who can be airlifted to various hospitals in Kolkata and Guwahati within a span of a few hours,'' Mr Khan said.

The BSF's AVRO plane has a capacity to carry 11 persons and will operate fortnightly from tomorrow and also on demand by the DIG office here in the capital, he pointed out.

Going with the official statistics given by the BSF here in Mizoram, out of the total 4224 detected malaria cases, 2055 tested positive with Plafmodium Falfiparum (PF) malaria, 26 were affected with Plafmodium Vivax (PV) malaria and rest 2143 had ordinary malaria.

UNI SNR PL RL PM1539