Ignorance kills malaria victim

By Emran Hossain  ›

Making it to the position of a videographer at channel 71, a leading news channel in 2012 was a dream-come-true for Ali Hossain Ripon, who, having returned from Chittagong Hill Tracts, died of malaria on June 22 at the age of 33.

Chittagong Hill Tracts. Photo by Emran Hossain

For his family and friends his untimely death has left so many questions unanswered about its treatment administered in the country’s leading hospitals.
“Our hope for happiness is gone for good,” sobbed Abubakar Siddik Shikriti, Ripon’s elder brother.
“Doctors who treated Ripon seemed to know nothing about malaria,” alleged Shikriti. “My brother died of wrong treatment and ignorance,” he added.
The death of Ripon and the allegations centering his treatment expose the risk faced by thousands of people who travel to the malaria-prone districts regularly.
Ripon started showing malaria symptoms – intermittent high fever, weakness, pain – from June 16, exactly ten days into his return from a week-long trip to Bandarban for covering acute food shortages in remote hilly villages.
A local clinic doctor kept treating Ripon with antibiotics for first five days after a test failed to trace malaria germ in his blood on June 17.
During the first few days Ripon repeatedly told doctors he had just returned from the CHT and he suspected malaria. He also informed them about how he had been working totally unprotected from mosquito bites while in the remote areas of Bandarban. But doctors never bothered to get Ripon hospitalized. It was not until June 21 that he was referred for a second test for malaria.

Ripon in his teenage

Hours after being admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Ripon became delirious with fever. He was taken to intensive care in an unconscious state around 11pm the same day.
About a day into his unconsciousness, two National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) doctors, including the Deputy Program Manager M. M. Aktaruzzaman, arrived at the hospital.
To his utter surprise, Aktaruzzaman learnt that the doctors had not yet diagnosed Ripon’s disease.
The other doctor, Abu Nayeem Md. Sohel, had with him portable kits for testing malaria.
“It took a few minutes for us to confirm the disease. But, it was too late,” said Nayeem.
Ripon passed away around 10pm.
Malaria patients become unconscious when parasite infects brain. Most malaria patients are brought to hospital in unconscious state.
“Before going for diagnosis of a suspected malaria patient, we usually inject two quinine doses,” said retired armed forces Major General Rabiul Hossain, now a physician at a private hospital.
According to him, about 80% patients with such critical condition recover and walk out of the hospital.

Mosquito_Malaria

Many doctors at hospitals in the malaria-prone areas, as a matter of precaution, prescribe multiple medications in treating a patient with high fever – not taking any chances.
“I prescribe multiple medicines, including anti-malarial, for every patient suffering from fever,” said a government doctor who once worked in Sylhet.
“Our priority is to save a life.”
Malaria is endemic in the east and northeastern 13 hilly districts of Sylhet and Chittagong divisions. Absence of either the parasite responsible for the disease or its carrier, Anopheles mosquito, kept malaria from spreading beyond the 13 endemic districts, said NMCP’s evaluator Abu Nayeem Md. Sohel.

Malaria Map_Bangladesh. Source: NMCP

Malaria is an infectious disease resulting from a parasite invading our organs; from liver across red blood cells to the brain. People suffer from cerebral malaria when the brain gets affected. There is no vaccine against the disease, but death can be prevented by taking precautions.
According to National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), So far this year malaria has killed a dozen people, including Ripon.
The program claims to have reduced the number of malaria casualty to 9 last year from 228 in 2007. However, it is believed the number is much higher as malarial deaths in remote hilly areas are hardly reported.
In addition to local victims, the list of casualty includes lives of government employees, members of the armed forces serving in the CHT in numerous cantonments, and unsuspecting tourists.
Almost 99% of domestic tourists travel to Sylhet and Chittagong Hill Tracts at least once in their lifetimes, mostly without taking precautions, said Shahid Hossain sShamim, CEO at Ajiyer, which promotes community based tourism.
According to him, the estimated size of domestic tourist population visiting these malaria prone areas would be around a million a year.
“Precautions against the disease are cheap and available,” said Shamim, adding, “Using mosquito nets during the night is the most effective precaution. Other precautions include using mosquito repellent and taking preventive medications before travelling to the areas.
Ripon, an ordinary studio man filming local weddings would not have become a professional videographer unless he had lived to endure hardship, said Shikriti.
“Ripon grew up in a family that endured abject poverty. Still, he became a videographer. It’s the power of life. A precious life cannot be wasted because we are ignorant of our safety.”

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Posted by Reportsbd on Aug 7 2016. Filed under Health, Home Slide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry