With all the 50 beds at the Naxalbari block hospital full, malaria patients are being treated on the floor of the hospital corridor on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, Oct. 19: Even as one more person from Naxalbari block died today of malaria at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, residents of Nepania Bustee appeared to have lost faith in the laboratory testing capabilities of both the rural hospital and the private clinics.

They cite several cases where blood tests conducted there on persons with fever did not yield malarial parasites, but when tested a few days later at health centres in neighbouring Nepal or in Siliguri, they were diagnosed P.falciparum positive.

This, the residents allege, is leading to wrong or delayed treatment and even death of the patient. Sanjana Thapa, the 15-year-old girl who died at NBMCH on Monday, is a case in point. When a blood test for malarial parasites was conducted on her on October 10 at Jha Pathology, situated on Kalibari Road in Naxalbari, the report said: ?No malaria parasite found at present.?

Six days later, a test conducted at Anandaloke Sonoscan Centre in Siliguri found her severely infected with P. falciparum, the parasite that causes the fatal malignant malaria. In fact, she had reached an irreversible condition, with her haemoglobin falling and bilirubin rising drastically. She died the next morning.

Several others, like Chandra Kanta Sharma (32), who were lucky to be detected with P. falciparum soon enough to be given proper treatment after a test carried out at the Naxalbari Rural Hospital showed him to be negative.

?When the test conducted at the hospital did not show malaria, I went to the health centre in Dhulabari in Nepal, which is not very far from Nepania Bustee, as I continued to have fever. The test was carried out four days later and there I was found positive for malignant malaria. Fortunately, I have friends there and decided to stay on till I got better,? he recounted today.

Megraj Sharma (31) related a similar experience. Negative at Naxalbari hospital, positive for malignant malaria four days later at the health centre at Kakarvitta in Nepal. There are at least four others who have gone through similar ordeals but have been fortunate to get the right treatment in the nick of time.

Experts point out that it is not guaranteed that malarial parasites will be found in the first test itself. ?It depends on the concentration of parasites at the time the blood test is done,? says Prof. Amitava Nandi of Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine.

He pointed out a few steps that are imperative for a person with fever in an endemic zone such as Naxalbari:

• The blood test should not be taken at the height of fever;

• Both thick and thin smear should be taken, but the study of the thick smear is a must;

• A slide has to be examined under the microscope for at least 5-7 minutes;

• If found negative in the first test, at least three more tests on consecutive days have to be carried out.

But with the number of tests being carried out at the Naxalbari hospital, it is becoming difficult to cope. ?We have to conduct over 200 tests a day now, and are sending some of the backlog of slides to NBMCH, which is returning the reports the next day,? said hospital superintendent A. Dutta.

Meanwhile, a six-member team from the state health department in Calcutta has arrived to carry out an entomological survey of the vector responsible for the spread of malaria.

The team, led by biologist Paritosh Adhikary, will try to find out why the disease is spreading so much in Naxalbari block.

?The end aim is to reduce the man-mosquito contact as far as possible,? a team member said.