Experts in the field of malaria eradication said almost four to five percent of migrant labourers in Goa carry malaria parasite in their blood from their home states, which is detected during the mandatory health tests here.
"Goa has health cards for the migrant labourers, and during the health test, it is revealed that four to five percent of them have malaria parasite in their blood," deputy director, National Institute of Malaria Research, Dr Ashwani Kumar told reporters.
Kumar, addressing a press conference to announce the tenth international symposium on vectors and vector-borne diseases beginning in the state from tomorrow, said that treating these labourers at the initial stage itself will help curb the spread of the disease.
Goa receives labourers from 16 to 17 states across the country including highly malaria-affected places from Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Assam, he said.
"You cannot screen all of them. Also, there is an incubation period of seven to nine days, when the malaria is not detected," Kumar said.
He admitted that there are practical difficulties in intercepting them, but Goa government's mandatory health card scheme helps screen labourers when they start working through a contractor.
Kumar said that the screening of migrant labourers is not the only deterrent as the parasite has already spread in the state.
"Impression should not be that whatever cases detected are from outside, locals too are affected with it," he said.
State government's programme to provide sleeping nets to the labourers is yielding marvellous results, he said.
"In the areas where these nets were provided, we have seen that the cases of malaria have reduced by almost 80%," he said.
The state health department has procured 10,000 nets which are distributed to the labourers, Kumar said.
"The socio-epidemic survey conducted by Goa University has also shown that people sleeping in nets can have good sleep, which increases their performance next day," he added.
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