Agartala: Central paramilitary and state forces, along with health workers, have fanned out in Tripura, and a helicopter has also been pressed into service to control malaria.
Over 61 people have died due to the disease and over 100,000 have fallen ill, a minister said here yesterday.
“At least 61 people, including 43 children, have died due to malaria since the first week of June,” Tripura Health and Family Welfare Minister Badal Choudhury told reporters.
He said: “Over 120,000 people, mostly tribals, have fallen ill with malaria and fever after the outbreak of the disease. Of the sick people, malaria germ was found in the blood of over 20,300 men, women and children.”
The minister said of the 61 victims, 32 had died in government hospitals and the remaining in their homes.
Choudhury said troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) had fanned out in remote and tribal-inhabited operational areas to help the sick.
A helicopter has been pressed into service to ferry doctors and patients to and from inaccessible areas in any emergency.
“We have brought a large number of patients to the hospitals from remote areas and sent them back home after treatment,” the minister said.
Experts from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an independent international medical humanitarian organisation, are now on a visit to the malaria-hit areas.
“The MSF has extended its help by providing medicines and expertise to deal with the outbreak of malaria in Tripura,” Choudhury said.
He said the MSF has also assured the state government to supply more medicines to help the state authorities in controlling the incidence of the disease.
The outbreak of malaria and fever have been reported from tribal-dominated mountainous areas of 11 sub-divisions under five districts — Dhalai, Gomti, Khowai, North Tripura and South Tripura. All the affected people have been admitted to government hospitals.
The state health minister has sent an urgent letter to union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan to send medicines and experts to deal with the situation.
“Though there is no shortage of medicines, we need medicines for critical patients suffering from malaria in Tripura,” Choudhury said.
A team of experts from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), led by its special director Awadesh Kumar, recently visited malaria-affected areas in the state.
Meanwhile, leave for all doctors, nurses and health workers has been cancelled.
IANS
