PESHAWAR: Lack of awareness a major cause of AIDS spread
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, March 11: Speakers at a seminar attributed the rise in sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, to lack of qualified doctors and public awareness in this regard.
The seminar was held at the Khyber Teaching Hospital to educate general practitioners regarding the treatment of the patients with sexual abnormalities here on Thursday.
Participants of the seminar criticized the absence of health education among the people, saying it compelled them to visit quacks and unqualified doctors. They also urged doctors to maintain complete case histories of patients suffering from sex-related problems, saying that these problems were often psychological in nature, needing only counselling and not treatment.
"Sex-related problems are often caused by other diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, anxiety, depression, heart and liver diseases and surgeries," said sexologist, Dr Muzzafar Tareen, said.
Dr Tareen, said that taking complete history of the patients would provide a clearer picture to the doctors, leading them to suggest relevant investigations. According to him the use of alcohol and tobacco as well as epilepsy and blood-flow abnormalities contributed towards development of sexual ailments.
He said that doctors should also ask patients about their professions to exclude other causes of these problems, adding that high anxiety also contributed in this regard.
Dr Tareen, a leading sexologist, said that he had examined 900 patients in the past eight months, most of whom had been treated successfully. He said in Pakistan, patients suffered because they often land in wrong hands for want of treatment.
He also said that some of the crucial laboratory tests were not being conducted in rural areas, which caused these patients more problems. He urged doctors to refer the patients requiring extensive investigations to major hospitals.
"While examining these patients, the doctors should ask about their childhood illnesses and sexual habits," he said, adding that boosting the patient's morale was one of the prime responsibilities of doctors.
He said that the country's female population had altogether been ignored. "Females have similar problems like men, but they do not visit the doctors because of social taboos. It is the duty of doctors to create public awareness regarding sexual ailments," said Dr Tareen.
He said that the concept of couple counselling in the US and Canada had proven to be highly effective so far as the treatment of infertility was concerned. According to him, 50 per cent of the sex-related patients in Pakistan suffered from infertility, but only males consulted doctors.
A general practitioner, Dr Tariq Khan, said that on an average he received two patients daily, who complained about anxiety performance. He said that such patients were being treated through multivitamins.
Another GP said that most of the patients, who suffered from sex-related problems, were Afghan refugees, adding that probably they were probably mentally traumatised by prolonged war in their country.
