23 March 2004	Tuesday	01 Safar 1425

PESHAWAR, March 22: NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said that 100 per cent cure rate of TB in the NWFP and Fata will be achieved next year.

Speaking at a symposium organized by NWFP TB Association in connection with the World TB Day here on Monday, the governor said: "We must have to involve the public to ensure transparency in materialization of welfare-oriented programmes."

He said no doubt, tuberculosis infected people in every country yet Pakistan ranked 6th among the countries badly hit by the disease. It must be a matter of concern for all of us, particularly for the doctors' community.

He said TB continued to be a cause of mortality, and was considered to be a killer disease as well as a major health hazard resulting in enormous social and financial burden on the country. Such a precarious situation, he said, was because of the apathy and neglect of all those at the helms of affairs.

However, he said, the government on its part was no more indifferent to fighting this menace with optimum utilization of available resources. In this connection, he said, efforts of the World Health Organization were also commendable which had set a target to diagnose 70 per cent of the people with infectious TB and to achieve a cure rate of 80 per cent.

He said there were 35,000 active TB cases, a majority of them were in the age group of 15-49 years, the productive period of life. The governor said that along with cost effective treatment and preventive education, it was also necessary to create awareness among the people about the disease.

He said that directly observed treatment short (Dots) course was started in 2001 and at present the patients were being treated under Dots in 17 districts, whereas 100 per cent Dots coverage was expected in all 24 districts of the province by the end of current year.

In Fata, Dots had been extended to 100 per cent in 2002, he said, adding that the availability of anti-TB drugs had been ensured in all medical facilities there.