KARACHI, Nov 8: The Director TB control programme, Sindh, Dr Nazir Ahmed Sheikh, has said that the universal DOTS coverage for TB control has been achieved in Sindh.

He said that with all the five elements of the TB-Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) strategy in place in all provincial government health facilities of all districts, the universal DOTS coverage had been achieved in Sindh.

Dr Nazir pointed out that only two districts —Sanghar and Thatta— were remaining in this regard since July this year. However, he pointed out that all the trainings of the care- providers had been completed in these two districts and the necessary logistics such as anti-TB medication, lab reagents and recording and reporting tools had been provided and were in place in all the identified diagnostic and treatment centres for TB in these districts.

He said that he would personally visit these districts by the targeted date of Nov 15. However, reports from the districts were highly encouraging, he added.

Dr Nazir informed that the provincial government had extended the TB control programme till June 2006 at a total revised cost of Rs149.035 million. The objectives of the programme would include enhancing the case detection rate of TB patients to 70 per cent of the estimated incidence by the year 2005 to at least 85 per cent in all the districts of Sindh and thereby reducing the prevalence and death due to TB by 50 per cent by the year 2010, he added.

The WHO Officer (Operations) for Sindh, Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi, termed this development a major success in health for the province that was only made possible by sustained political commitment at the federal and provincial levels.

He recalled that although case detection using TB-DOTS methodology commenced in district Tharparkar of Sindh in August 2000. The programme was formally launched by the then governor Mohammadmian Soomro three years ago, he added.

Dr Kazi pointed out that Sindh was the first province to achieve this target although the universal DOTS coverage had been achieved earlier in Azad Jammu Kashmir and the Northern Areas.

He pointed out that four more officers would be posted in Sindh to improve programme delivery at the district level while CIDA was supporting the programme to enhance the involvement of lady health workers to make DOTS more community-based.

He appreciated the fact that all the critical activities of the programme in Sindh were being implemented largely through the resources provided by provincial government with federal support to fill in the gaps and this augured well for the sustainability of the programme. A significant proportion of the drugs were being provided through the Global Drug Facility instituted by the WHO in association with the World Bank and other international agencies to make drugs more accessible to patients and lessen the burden on the public sector.—APP