AGARTALA, August 8 (TIWN): The state today gained even better control on malaria outbreak as the figures of freshly infected malaria patients came down from 499 to 350 in a day’s time, official sources said. A highly placed source in the Department of Health and Family Welfare today said that the authorities continued today with over sixty health camps organized in different districts of the state.

Asked about the issue, an official of the health department said that no patient was freshly infected with dengue and Japanese Encephalitis in the state today. Malaria situation is currently under control, the official said. Mizoram recently voiced caution on Japanese Encephalitis outbreak after Assam and Tripura in the NER states. An official of the Health Department today said that total malaria infected patients since the initial outbreak of malaria today crossed 45 thousand 875. Over 2 lakh 66 thousand patients underwent blood tests across the state in a similar timeframe, he said.

State malaria programme officer Dr. Bidhu Bhusan Das said that the Department had sufficient anti-malaria drugs in stock. He added that there was no word from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) about any further sanction of dengue rapid diagnosis test kits for Tripura.

The state health department recently wrote to the NVBDCP authorities to sanction dengue testing kits for Tripura though the latter didn’t give any positive response over the issue.

The authorities had a few Japanese Encephalitis testing kits though the tests were largely limited within the last phase of testing since GB Hospital is currently operational as the only state surveillance hospital, authorized for testing Japanese Encephalitis. The health department authorities have now started campaigning for sensitization on dengue and Japanese Encephalitis beside malaria. Sensitization camps were held on Thursday at predominantly indigenous populated areas like Jeocherra under Dhalai district.

Chief Medical Officer (Dhalai) Dr. Padmaram Jamatia and Jeolcherra ADC village vice-chairman Sumanta Debbarma urged all local residents at the camp to follow preventive measures to check outbreak of malaria, dengue, Japanese Encephalitis and other seasonal diseases like diarrhea. The CMO stressed on maintaining total sanitation drives in the rural areas.