No record, reporting system for malaria cases

Rawalpindi : Well over 90 per cent of the total cases of malaria coming to the public and private sector healthcare facilities including the three teaching hospitals in town are managed without keeping any record and as well none of the government authorities is notified of the cases.

Almost 100 per cent of malaria patients in this region of the country are given treatment upon signs and symptoms only as their blood tests are not conducted at primary, secondary or even tertiary healthcare facilities.

No record of malaria patients reaching allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital is up-dated as majority of malaria patients are given treatment in medicine departments which do not notify any of the government authorities, said a top official serving at Department of Infectious Diseases at HFH while talking to ‘The News’.

He said differential diagnosis is performed on patients during the peak season of dengue fever transmission and at that time, blood tests for malaria are also conducted. However, malaria tests are not conducted at public sector healthcare facilities in routine, he added.

Many of the experts say that the concerned government authorities both at the federal and the provincial levels have not been giving due attention to control malaria that has been re-emerging as a greater health threat to public.

It is important that malaria is the second most prevalent and devastating disease of the country as approximately well over 60 per cent of the population is living in areas where the disease is endemic. Various studies reveal that the number of confirmed malaria cases reported in Pakistan within last five years was higher than in previous years and it was mainly because of the low coverage of effective interventions to control the disease and vector surveillance.

Malaria that is not taken seriously by majority of our population may cause spontaneous abortion, premature birth, still birth and intrauterine growth retardation during pregnancy.

Professor of Medicine and Vice Chancellor at Rawalpindi Medical University Dr. Muhammad Umar when contacted by ‘The News’ said the allied hospitals do not keep or update data of malaria cases as it is not collected by any authority.