By Rafiullah Mandokhail
ZHOB: Balochistan Rural Support Programme in collaboration with the Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN) has organized twenty-two free malaria mass screening and medical camps in different remote union councils of the district, which falls in the high risk zone for the vector-borne disease malaria.
Supervised by the District Coordinator IHHN Dr Ubaid Harifal, the camps were set up in high risk union councils including mountainous areas Sabakzai, Garda Babar, Ghondi Sulaimanzai and Narezai, where 3400 male, female patients were screened, out of them over four hundred were tested positive with vivax and falciparum malaria. Medicines were provided to the malaria infected patients.
Dr Ubaid Harifal told this scribe that thirty-six health centers including the District Headquarters civil hospital, RHCs, BHUs and private clinics in every nook and corner of the district have been visited to inspect the malaria diagnosis facilities during the last three months, where thirty-two thousand patients have been screened, diagnosed and treated. Out of the total number, 5600 patients have been found infected with malaria.
“We are fully committed and leave no stone unturned in eradicating malaria from the high risk region and creating awareness among the people. In this regard, a monthly surveillance committee meeting also held at the DHO office, where the district coordinator IHHN shared the overall progress report regarding malaria control with the stakeholders,’ adding DHO Dr. Muzaffar Shah, Meal Officer IHHN Abuzar Mandokhail, DMU Usman Sherani, District Coordinator Nutrition Program Ajmal Mandokhail, Coordinator UNICEF Muhammad Zubair Sherani, M&D Officer PPHI Shoaib Khan and Focal Person EPI Muhammad Ismail attended the meeting.
According to Dr. Ubaid Harifal, his efforts aimed at creating awareness among the rural communities, enhancing vector control with long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and performing village-wide screening with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) malaria treatment. The patients are being diagnosed, screened and treated free of cost at the designated health facilities, the official added
