Drug resistant malaria is a major problem in South-East Asia : Expert

Kolkata: Drug resistant malaria has now become one of the biggest problems in South East Asia, a Myanmar-based health expert said here at an international medical conference.

At the Fourth Medicon International 2017 in Kolkata on Saturday, Dr Elizabeth Ashley, Clinician Scientist at the Myanmar-Oxford Clinical Research Unit, said: "It's

now one of the biggest problems in the South East Asia. So, we ultimately invest in drugs, which have been used over a decade. Those are the best drugs we had."

"Everyone is watching very closely to see if the parasites, which are resistant, is able to spread the disease. We know in the past, Paraquin resistance came through into India and over Africa that resulted in millions of child deaths. So, really everyone is watching what's going to happen," Ashley added. Focusing on healthcare issues afflicting India, Peerless Hospital and B K Roy Foundation, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Bengal chapter of the Association of Physicians of India have jointly hosted the fourth edition of Medicon International 2017 conference in Kolkata.

Researches from pharmaceutical industry are focusing on developing healthcare and medical solutions essential in countries like India which are grappling with deaths from malaria and drug resistant tuberculosis. During the programme Dr Sujit Kar Purkayastha, Managing Director of Peerless Hospital and B K Roy was given an award by Prof Sunil Bhandari from the Royal college of Physicians of Edinburgh. "The main theme of this conference is to bring awareness to the medical fraternity and the wider section of society about the extreme importance of the growth of general medicine specialists and not just the super specialists," said Dr Kar Purkayastha.

At the conference, Prof Keith W Muir, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, spoke on thrombectomy and vascular dementia. "We are still not geared up to introduce thrombolysis (clot busting therapy) treatment for stroke victims but a newer treatment called thrombectomy in acute stroke has now been introduced in the West."