Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Monday said that the state had seen a steep fall in Malaria cases, and the last devastating outbreak of the vector-borne disease was in 2014. According to Dr Saha, since then annual caseload has almost reduced to one-fourth compared to recorded in 2014.
Addressing the Asia Pacific Leaders Conclave on Malaria Elimination in New Delhi, Dr Saha said, “Robust health care delivery system and strategic approach to reach out to the vulnerable population helped the state government reduce the impact of the disease in far-flung areas. In our state, two districts are considered Malaria prone zones. In 2014, our state confronted the most devastating wave of Malaria in which we lost 96 people and the total population tested positive rose above 51,000. The positivity rate stood at 15 per cent while only the 6.8 per cent population of the state was screened.”
In the subsequent year, Dr Saha said, as many as 14 Malaria infected patients died and the number of total Malaria infected patients crossed the 32,000 mark, he added. According to Dr Saha, the number of cases has reduced to 12,772 in the year 2022 and the positivity rate also fell to 0.23 per cent.
Attributing the improvement in the situation to the strategic efforts put forth by the government departments, he said, “The state government has distributed 10.06 lakhs insecticide-treated mosquito nets in the vulnerable areas in 2015-16. In 2018-19, 1.80 lakh more nets were distributed. For 2023-24, we are ready with 1.80 lakh nets while 9.25 lakh such nets are being arranged with financial assistance from the government of India to cover the targeted population. Apart from that, the release of larvicidal fish in the water bodies, spraying of insecticides and regular awareness meetings at the community level have also strengthened the reach of the health department.”
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Lauding the role of ASHA workers, Dr Saha said, “We have a strong force of 7,728 ASHA sisters who have made healthcare accessible for everyone in the remote areas of the state. Health establishments like 104 Primary Health Centres and 1018 newly upgraded health and wellness centres to govern the sub-centres in every village are keeping active surveillance on areas. At the same time, upscaling of tertiary care is also being done.”
The Chief Minister also extended his sincere thanks to National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, Malaria Elimination Drive and ICMR for all the technical and logistic support. “With all these efforts going in convergence, we hope to eliminate Malaria from Tripura by the year 2027 with zero indigenous Malaria cases from the state,” Dr Saha added.
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