The state government had established two malaria-control units at Gajuwaka and Maddilapalem in the 1970s to control malaria in the industrial area but though the areas and the population of the city have increased four to five times since then, the staff strength remains the same.

"The Gajuwaka unit is supposed to have 37 multipurpose health assistants but it has only five. Maddilapalem, which is supposed to have 62 health staff, has only 10," said the district malaria officer.

"The staff is supposed to make house-to-house visits, especially in high-risk areas such as urban slums and collect blood smears. However, certain legal disputes regarding the educational qualification of the staff have led to a shortage. The government will recruit staff once the case is solved," said the officer.

This bodes ill for the coastal districts, with four of them — Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, and East Godavari — being among the five malaria-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh, according to the data of the state epidemic cell of the directorate of health.

However, GVMC officials denied any staff crunch. "We have 380 staff members in the health section. When malaria cases start rising from June, additional staff from the sanitation wing of GVMC will be pressed into service. We are speeding up spraying and anti-larval operations in all the 72 wards under GVMC. The urban health centres are equipped with drugs and blood test facilities," said GVMC entomologist Y Mani.

"We are taking all precautionary measures to control malaria, especially in vulnerable districts and Agency areas. We have got Rs 11 crore from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for the state vector borne disease control programme this year, against last year's Rs 8 crore," said P Ratna Joseph, deputy director, (malaria control), state epidemic cell.

"Last year, around eight lakh imported mosquito nets were distributed. This year another 10 lakh are being distributed to malaria-prone areas. IEC (Information Education and Communication) activities have also been stepped up and each district has been supplied with drugs, insecticides and 2-4 lakh diagnostic kits depending on their area and its population," he said.

On an average, over the last three years, around 30,000 malaria cases have been reported from Andhra Pradesh every year. WHO statistics indicate that in India around three malaria patients out of every 1,000 dies and going by this the toll in AP should be 90-100 per year. However, the state epidemic cell authorities claim that just three-four deaths are recorded every year with just two deaths in 2012."There has been no death so far this year. Last year, there were two deaths and five the year before that," said Champa Naik, joint director, state epidemic cell.

However, the malaria-endemic Agency area of Paderu has already recorded 389 confirmed malaria cases while Vizag city has 881 positive cases in this period, against 561 and 1,176, respectively, last year during the same period, said Rao.