PESHAWAR, Feb 17: Speakers at a one-day seminar underlined the need to raise awareness about leprosy, its prevention and cure. "We have already achieved the target set by World Health Organization (WHO) as far as the incidence rate of leprosy is concerned.

But, we must replicate the strategy in other areas, such as polio, hepatitis, TB and HIV/AIDS to do away with these problems for ever," said Health Minister Inayatullah Khan speaking as chief guest at a seminar arranged to observe the World Leprosy Day at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) here on Tuesday.

He said the perception about the disease had changed. Now it had been proved that leprosy could not be caught by contact and the people could even dine with these patients, he said.

The government, he said, had already involved Ulema in the process of educating the people about preventive measures, because this task could not be done by the government alone.

He said that observing international days about any given diseases reminded us of our responsibilities to set target and make relentless efforts to achieve them.

Director-general health, Dr Jalilur Rehman said that leprosy was a centuries-old disease and the people preferred to stay away from the leprosy patients.

He said that it was a wrong notion that leprosy was caused by consuming milk and fish together and said that scientific research proved that the disease was curable.

According to him, senseless stains appeared on the skin, which caused blindness and deformities of the affected organs. First leprosy clinic was established in Swat in 1961 and now the total number of clinics was 40, besides a 20-bed hospital at the LRH.

Mr Rehman said leprosy patients needed reconstructive surgeries to repair their deformitiesandaskedthe philanthropists and NGOs to help the patients.

Field officer of the provincial leprosy control programme Mulla Gul said that there were 8,000 leprosy patients in the province. Malakand and Hazara were more affected than other areas.

The treatment cost is Rs20,000 to 30,000 required a period of 1-2 years treatment. However, he said that the patients were being given free medication at the government-run clinics.

He lamented that there was a shortage of female staff as the female patients were to be thoroughly examined. He appreciated the efforts of Dr Ruthpfau, who he said came to Karachi from Germany in 1960 and since then was instrumental in leprosy control programme.