Agartala, July 17 (TIWN): A high level delegation of the Médecins Sans Frontières arrived in the state today to extend help over the malaria epidemic that cost 70 lives till date. One Arpan Shil (18) from West Jalepha of Sabroom sub-division was reported to have died from malaria while he was under treatment at GB Hospital today, a highly placed source in the Department of Health and Family Welfare said.

A three member delegation headed by Dr. Hemant Sharma would start for field inspection at Longtraivalley sub-division on Saturday. Two more medical teams from the MSF would be arriving in the state by the next week, the source stated adding that the teams would work in 17 distant rural hamlets in Longtraivalley and Gandacherra sub-division during their stay in Tripura.

Each of the MSF medical team would have a doctor, a nurse, a lab technician, a health educator and three other helping hands, the source said.

The Médecins Sans Frontières medical delegations would extend medicine support to villagers in the distant villages, conduct blood tests and hold other experiments to understand the reason behind massive outbreak of malaria in Tripura that has been ravaging the state for the last two months.

Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, is a French-founded humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, best known for its projects in war-torn regions.

An official communiqué from the Health Department said later this evening that 897 persons were diagnosed to have freshly contacted malaria across the state today.  Out of 892 persons who were newly admitted in different hospitals and healthcare institutions across the state today, 410 were diagnosed to have been infected with the malaria parasite.