KARACHI, June 2: About 1,061 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) in adults were registered under the DOTS programme in the Chest OPD of the Civil Hospital from Oct 2002 to April 2005. Giving details of the registered cases, Dr Tajammul Baig, head of the Chest OPD, Civil Hospital, on Thursday said that some 325 cases were registered in 2002, 358 in 2003, 303 in 2004 and 75 in the first four months of 2005. The DOTS programme was started at the said hospital in Oct 2002, he informed.

From 2003, the National TB Control Programme started providing medicines, while the WHO provided advisory support, he said.

“The basic concept of DOTS is treatment under direct observation. But, this is not possible in the settings of Pakistan. Therefore, we are running community DOTS, in which close relatives of patients are assigned to give therapy under their direct observation,” he told.

Dr Baig said community DOTS had been followed at the Civil Hospital, and responsibilities had been put on the shoulders of the patient’s close relatives, who act as treatment supporters.

Before starting treatment, these treatment supporters are educated about their responsibilities, he said.

The result of the community DOTS, he added, was reflected from the fact that the cure rate of patients was 78 per cent with a five to seven per cent default rate.

He said pulmonary TB was common in patients followed by Lymph Nod TB, while females were more affected with communicable disease. Patients were mostly said to be in the 15-55 age group, he informed.

“The Civil Hospital, being a tertiary care hospital, caters to the needs of patients from all over city and sometimes from interior Sindh as well,” he added.—PPI