Declare Adilabad tribal area as Chloroquine resistant

Hyderabad: Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV) Telangana State committee member Dr Prabhavati has demanded that the government announce the Adilabad tribal region as “Chloroquine resistant” area. The national malaria programme made haemogram (a complete detailed record of findings through examination of blood) peripheral smear test for tribals mandatory.

The JVV and Telangana Girijana Sangham jointly conducted a health camp in the agency areas of Adilabad district recently. Dr Prabhavati, Dr Jagadeeswar and Girijana Sangham leaders Manohar, Madhu, Praveen and Devender organised the camp in Pangidi village in Sirpur Mandal, Rasimetta, Karnamguda village of Jainoor Mandal.

Speaking to The Hans India, Dr Prabhavati said the malarial fever had developed resistance to Primaquin tablets. She said the tablets were not working on some patients diagnosed with malaria. Instead, she suggested, administering the patients with Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drug.

A malaria sample survey found that out of 45 fever cases, 14 cases were found to be malaria positive. The Health Department was supposed to supply 50 malaria kits to each Asha worker. An Asha worker told the doctors that for the last four years the department had not supplied the kits. In Rasimetta village, the Asha worker had not used the kits to detect malaria. Invariably, the fever patients were forced to approach the local Rural Medical Practitioner.

In Utnoor Nutrition Centre, the board clearly showed that after 2013, no nutritious food was given. There was no blood transfusion facility in Utnool Primary Health Centre. Patients requiring blood transfusion were being ferried to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, 52 kilometers away from the village, she said.

She regretted that the 108 Ambulance too was not availabel for people in interior villages. She stressed the need to ensure that the people in interior villages have access to 108 Ambulance. She further said as per the government guidelines, if the Plasmodium falciparum malaria was positive, the patient should be administered with Chloroquine and Primaquin tablets.

But the doctors at PHC were asked the patients to buy Primaquin in medical shops, she said. She suggested to the government that a training camp may be organised for Asha workers to educate them on malaria treatment protocol as they were administering Chloroquine to the patients and not Primaquin.