The Pioneer  12.08.2010

BMC admits to fish contamination

TN Raghunatha | Mumbai

In the first confirmation of damage caused by the oil spill to marine life off Mumbai harbour, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday reported that nearly 500 kilograms of fish samples collected by its officials from the Sasoon Dock, Sewree and Bhaucha Dhakka were prima facie found contaminated.

BMC conceded for the first time that oil slick had been sighted on the shores of Nariman Point to Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai, Vashi and Airoli in Thane district and Uran, Mandovi and Elephanta in Raigad district. It indicated that its sample testing of fish caught off the Mumbai harbour had been intensified, following its finding that the fish caught in the area were contaminated.

Simultaneously, the DF Government roped in the State Fisheries department to carry out random sampling of fish at specified landing locations like Sasoon Dock and Bhaucha Dhakka.

Fish samples from civic markets across the city are also being collected. “Having covered as many as 10 civic markets in the city, we have collected as many as 24 samples and sent them to municipal laboratories for testing. We expect the first analysis reports by early next week,” BMC’s Assistant Municipal Commissioner Deepak Kamat told The Pioneer.

The Director General of Shipping, meanwhile, revealed that Elephanta Island, in Navi Mumbai and on the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s (BARC) complex were the only sites where mangroves had been affected by the oil spill from MSC Chitra.

In an effort to gauge the extent of pollution caused to marine environment by the oil spill, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has formed four teams, with assistance of Coast Guard and the District Local Administration, to survey the affected areas in Mumbai, its suburbs, neighbouring Thane and Raigad districts.

Meanwhile, the analysis of water samples collected from the Arabian Sea off the city harbour revealed that they did not contain hazardous chemicals like sodium hydroxide or pesticides as had been feared earlier.

Ahead of the start of salvage operation on Friday, the Navy’s ship INS Yamuna began surveying the entire navigational channel, which provides access to both Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru ports.

The authorities have so far identified only three out several sunken containers. “The completion of a survey by the naval ship will help the port authorities to examine the possibilities of restricted navigation off the Mumbai harbour,” the DG-Shipping officials said.

Meanwhile, at a coordination meeting organised by the Director General of Shipping, Mumbai Port Trust was identified as the nodal agency for processing the damage claims

In a related development, a representative of Director General Lighthouse and Lightships has joined the coordination efforts.

The authorities have begun to procure suitable buoys for marking the containers.

The Times of India  12.08.2010

KMC glare on malaria treatment norms at private hospitals

KOLKATA: Even as the number of malaria patients keeps climbing in Kolkata, the civic authorities have alleged that most leading private hospitals and clinics are not following treatment norms prescribed by WHO. Instead of a combination therapy which involves supplementing treatment with a second-line drug to rule out relapse and resistance patients are being administered a single drug, which is helping to transmit the parasite, it has been alleged.

Some private hospitals denied the charge and passed the blame on to KMC saying that they, too, were guilty of bypassing the malaria treatment regimen. Around 2000 people are now suffering from malaria in the city; there have been two deaths so far. Around 50% of the patients in the malaria-prone areas of the city are believed to have developed resistance to first-line drugs.

"It is imperative, under the norms, to combine artemisinin group of drugs with sulphadoxin pyrimethamine or lumesanthrine to treat falciparum (malignant) malaria patients. Alternatively, quinine could be used in combination with toxycycline or clindamycin. We have come across scores of patients at our clinics who were prescribed artemisinin or quinine in isolation at private hospitals and clinics. Many of these patients have suffered a relapse and could develop resistance in future. More importantly, this violates the malaria treatment norm," said Tomonash Bhattacharya, civic medical officer and tropical medicine expert.

A combined therapy helps to prevent resistance and roots out parasites from the blood effectively. "Since they act at two different stages of the parasitic cycle, the chances of the parasite remaining dormant are almost nil. Single-drug therapy often seems to have cured malaria, but the parasite survives and turns active after a while. Scores of patients have suffered a relapse this season. It is also likely to have added to the number of drug-resistant patients," added Bhattacharya.

A prescription issued by a leading private hospital, in possession of TOI, prescribes quinine without a combination drug. The patient, suffering from falciparum malaria, had a relapse and sought treatment from a private practitioner. Another prescription recommends primaquin in a low dose, which could help transmission, say experts.

"This is a major lapse in a situation like this. Unless you prescribe a loading dose which effectively kills the gametocyte (the transmitting form) of the falciparum, the patient might turn a carrier. He will have no symptoms of malaria but go on transmitting the disease so long as the gametocyte survives in the bloodstream. We have thousands of such silent carriers in Kolkata now," said Debashish Basu, an expert in preventive medicine.

Even while admitting that single-drug therapy was being used, private hospitals pointed out that combination drugs were often not available. It was primarily KMC's responsibility to arrange for treatment of malaria patients and ensure that the drug regime was adhered to. "KMC clinics, too, are not following norms. They rarely take a G6PD test, which is mandatory before primaquin is prescribed to malaria vivax patients. The civic authorities have failed to either prevent breeding of mosquito or provide treatment to patients. They have even failed to launch an effective malaria awareness campaign," said Syamasis Bandopadhyay, internal medicine expert at Apollo Gleagles Hospital.