Drugs from Thailand to fight dengue

Immediate action is being taken to import a new medicinal drug from Thailand to treat dengue patients.

The Health Ministry said that certain patients who had contracted the disease were dying due to hemorrhage. Health experts believe that shock in Dengue patients could be prevented by using medicines to act as Plasma Expanders in patients. Local officials currently use one such variety at state hospitals. However, experts believe that another variety used in Thailand is much more effective in preventing shock in dengue patients and recommended its use locally which the World Health Organisation has acceded to.

Minister Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Sri Lanka Director of the WHO Dr. F.R. Mehta to take immediate action to get down this drug from Thailand. The Minister issued this instruction at a ceremony organized to hand over medical equipment worth over 10 million rupees for hospitals in the North and East. The donation has been made by the WHO Office in Sri Lanka.