KARACHI, Sept 13: Pakistan ranks sixth among the 22 countries in the world which bear 80 per cent of the global tuberculosis burden.

This was stated by the president of the Pakistan Chest Society, Sindh, Dr Nadeem Rizvi, in his welcome address to the participants of the National Seminar on Tuberculosis, says a press release.

He said that tuberculosis was a major health problem in Pakistan. “It is a fact that the Quaid-i-Azam’s untimely death was due to tuberculosis.

The problem of tuberculosis is not under control in the country,” he said.

The principal of the Dow Medical College, Dr Tipu Sultan, said that tuberculosis is a major challenge facing Pakistan. ”Consolidated efforts by all the members of the community is required to fight this menace. No one is safe from tuberculosis until everyone is safe,” he said. He told the participants, who had come from all over Sindh, that the public sector needed the collaboration of the private sector for the success of the TB control programme.

Dr Amanullah Ansari, manager of the Tuberculosis Control Programme of WHO, said that DOTS programme was now an internationally established cost-effective strategy for the control of TB. In Sindh, this programme is being implemented step-wise, he said.

Dr Khursheed-uz-Zaman of Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore, spoke about the myths and realities in the diagnosis of TB. He said the disease was over and under diagnosed due to various myths attached to it.

Dr Shahida Qayyum of the department of chest medicine in the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre, presenting a survey on the attitude and practice of the doctors of the management of TB, highlighted the lacunae in this area. She stressed the need for holding workshops so that the members of the medical profession could upgrade their skill.

Dr Zafaryab Hussain, head of the pulmonary medicine department of KV Site Hospital, said that TB could not be controlled by any single agency.

Prof Zaka Ullah Beg, Dr Ghazala Ansari, Dr Ashique Hussain, and Dr Fayyaz Hussain shared their experiences with the audience. Dr Nisar Ahmed Rao, Dr Shakeel Ahmed and Dr Saifullah Baig also spoke on the occasion.