Prof. MS Thimmappa, vice chancellor, Bangalore University, Prof. CNR Rao and Prof. G Padmanabhan seen at the inauguration of the Third Global meet on Parasitic diseases held between January 12-16, 2004

A national mission on fighting malaria and water-borne parasite induced diseases should be taken up on a war footing, according to Prof. CNR Rao at the inauguration of the third global conference on parasitic diseases.

Prof. Rao said the scourge persisted for over decades in the country. Prof. Rao, a Linus Pauling Research professor reminded the delegates that such a mission, specifically on malaria, had been undertaken by the central government in the mid-1980s, but the initiative lost steam due to change in governments.

"If such a national mission is undertaken for five years, it would yield fantastic results in tackling water-borne parasitic diseases, which is afflicting millions in the country today," he said.

The mission could include government pursuing a programme in which clean drinking water could be supplied through taps to every household in the country. He suggested that the national mission could focus on the general physicians who normally are the first to deal with the patients complaining of the symptoms.

Prof. Rao lamented the line taken by medical research in the country, stating that it was developing a tendency to cater to the treatment of diseases which mostly afflict people in western countries, ignoring the immediate requirement of dealing with India-specific diseases.

"Diabetes had emerged as the major scourge among Indians, but hardly any research was being conducted to tackle this problem," he said.

Dr MS Jairajpuri, president, Indian Society of Parasitology stated that though parasitic diseases recorded lesser number of cases in the West compared to India, the western countries were far advanced in their research focus on tackling these diseases.

He said it was more important to concentrate on research on parasitic diseases in India as not only humans but also livestock, which sustained agriculture in the country, were affected by it. While livestock being affected would imply commercial losses, people afflicted by these diseases meant several man hours of work being lost due to sickness, he said.

Bangalore Mayor PR Ramesh, assured the delegates that the deliberations of the global meet if submitted to him, would be implemented in all seven City Municipal Councils one Town Municipal Council in Bangalore, to ensure that the city is rid of all parasite-induced diseases.

Prof. MS Thimmappa, vice chancellor, Bangalore University also spoke on the occasion. Prof. Padmanabhan, scientist emeritus and former director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) attended the meet long with Prof. NJ Shetty, director, Centre for Applied Genetics, organizing secretary hoped that there would be a solution to control the parasite diseases.