18 September 2004	Saturday	02 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Federal Minister for Health Mohammad Nasir Khan on Friday faced severe criticism from both opposition and treasury senators for presenting wrong data on the number of patients suffering from different diseases in the country.

The senators criticized the minister and challenged his figures when he said in a written reply to a question of Sanaullah Baloch that the total number of TB (tuberculosis) and hepatitis patients in Pakistan was 66,205 and 48,411, respectively.

Giving province-wise breakdown, the minister said there were a total of 18,608 TB patients in the Punjab, 24,025 in Sindh, 13,537 in NWFP, 2,298 in Balochistan, 4,504 in Azad Kashmir, 1,660 in Northern Areas and 1,573 in Islamabad.

Similarly, the minister said that out of 48,411 hepatitis patients, 12,589 were in the Punjab, 3,568 in NWFP, 1,367 in Azad Kashmir, 518 in Balochistan and 204 in Northern Areas. The minister did not provide the number of hepatitis patients in Sindh.

Challenging the figures, Senator Sanaullah Khan Baloch said the minister had mentioned the figures in thousands while according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations, 43 per cent of the Balochistan population was suffering from hepatitis.

Mr Baloch said the minister had not disclosed the source from where he had received this data. He said it was surprising that the number of hepatitis patients was even less than the patients of HIV/AIDS.

Ruling party senator from Quetta, Kalsoom Perveen, said these figures were totally wrong as 20 per cent population of Aranji was suffering from TB, while the minister had put the figure for the whole province at only over 2,000.

PPP Senator Dr Abdullah Riar said it was a joke that only 66,205 people were suffering from TB in a country having population of 150 million. He said another joke was that no hepatitis case had been reported in Sindh.

He said it showed that the government had totally failed in documenting data about the patients suffering from different diseases in the country. Another ruling party senator, Pari Gul Agha, criticized the government for closing an old TB sanatorium in Quetta and opening of a university in its building.

She said they were not against setting up of new universities, but these should not be established in hospital buildings. She asked the minister to take immediate notice of the situation because health was also important besides education. "Without good health, how can one get education," she questioned.

Replying to the points raised by the members, the minister acknowledged that the data was incomplete and the number of patients was much higher than that given in the answer.

He said the data had been compiled only through the registered sources and government hospitals. He regretted that a majority of the private practitioners neither informed the health authorities nor registered the patients.

He said TB was a curable disease and the government had offered free treatment to the TB patients under the Direct Observation Treatment System (DOTS). He asked the MNAs and the senators to inform the government about the TB patients in their constituencies so that free medical treatment could be provided to them.

The minister expressed the hope that TB would be totally eliminated from the country soon. As far as hepatitis was concerned, the minister said there was no treatment for the disease and people should take only preventive measures.