June 15, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1424

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PESHAWAR, June 14: The provincial health department  plans to provide treatment facilities to prisoners suffering from tuberculosis in jail.

“The facilities would be provided under the directly observed treatment short course (Dots) programme inside the premises of the central jail Peshawar,” an official said on Friday.

“Doctors and laboratory technicians would be provided with necessary training by the experts of the provincial TB control programme to treat the prisoners in an effective manner,” the official said.

“Presently there are 25 TB patients in the Peshawar central jail, who are receiving treatment at the OPD (chest) of the Lady Reading hospital,” the official said.

The official said that Dera Ismail Khan jail had two TB patients, receiving treatment at the TB control office DI Khan.

“Only Haripur’s jail in the province has a 20-bed ward for the patients,” the official informed.

One of the problems faced by the TB patients in DI Khan jail was that the prison authorities had to shift the convicts to Haripur jail for treatment, whereas the under-trial prisoners had no treatment facilities, the official said.

In this connection, a meeting between a senior medical officer of the central jail Peshawar and provincial managers of the TB control programme was held on June 10 in which they agreed to launch a programme inside the jail premises, the official said.