A Port Harcourt based medical doctor, Kasie Ngakaduru has dismissed fears that the increasing cases of drug resistant malaria is linked to the devastating Covid 19 virus.
He said malaria parasites become resistant to drugs because of habitual abuse.
Ngakaduru who spoke with City News on Tuesday blamed the situation primarily on self medication and reliance on prescription from unqualified practitioners.
He regretted that patients end up taking drugs without proper medical guidance sometimes taking an under dose.
He said, "When people fall or feel Ill, instead of approaching a practitioner to run a test or seek medical counsel, they rush to a chemist or patent medicine dealer in the streets to request for anti malaria drug without knowing the severity of the malaria in the system.
"We have two types of malaria; complicated and uncomplicated. The uncomplicated manifests in just fever and headache is easier to manage. The complicated one can come with other complications or co-features like convulsions, anemia, cerebral malaria etc and need stronger prescription and management. Most at times we have to treat the co-mobility before we face the malaria. This one can even lead to death of not properly managed".
Ngakaduru also attributed the trend of drug resistant malaria on the tendency of some patients to jettison the required administered dosage once they begin to feel better.
He admonished patients to be weary of patronizing roadside uncensored herbal concortions purported to be potent in the treatment of malaria and other ailments.
He warned that some end up damaging the kidney and liver leaving the patient in far worse condition.
