Thupa Gore (left) and Sukrao Oraon, who have been affected with filaria. Pictures by Anirban Choudhury

Nimtijhora Tea Estate, Nov. 15: There were almost no patients at the health centre here on World Filaria Eradication Day, reports our Alipurduar correspondent.

Despite the advertisements in leading dailies about how Diethylcarbamazine Citrate tablets would be distributed for free, nobody lined up today at the centre because of the lack of an awareness campaign, a health worker confessed. On November 13, The Telegraph had carried a report in which Kalchini block medical officer of health, Raju Mondal, had said 20 people here, 26km from Alipurduar town, were suffering from the disease. He had promised to send his staff members to collect blood samples.

Filaria is caused by parasitic worms transmitted by mosquitoes. Today Mondal said no camps could be arranged because of the absence of the acting chief medical officer of health. “Also, we are yet to find out whether they are suffering from filaria or protein deficiency,” he said.